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3C Institute

3C Expanding Technologies to Mobile Apps for Medical Montoring

3C Institute is currently developing the Online Medical Monitoring System (OMMS), an integrated web and mobile system to facilitate and monitor treatment adherence for individuals with a chronic illness.

Our first application of the OMMS is Planet K, a mobile phone app designed to help youth (ages 12-21) transition to self-care of chronic kidney disease. Planet K is funded through a Centers for Disease Control SBIR grant.

Planet K Empowers Adolescents to Manage their Illness

In Planet K, the adolescent takes care of a virtual companion that shares his or her medical condition. Taking care of the companion teaches adolescents about their condition, increases engagement, and helps them practice needed skills for managing their condition.

Planet K includes games to teach adolescents new skills and motivate them to actively participate in their treatment process. It also includes features such as:

  • Medication reminders
  • Online progress tracking for parents
  • Repository of educational information optimized for this audience and for mobile devices

Planet K customizes the education and game experiences based on details of the adolescent’s medical condition, providing an individualized experience designed to meet each user’s specific needs.

“I’m thrilled with Planet K—it’s our first time working with our patients on a platform that they love.”

– Maria Ferris, MD, UNC Kidney Center

Next steps for Planet K

Planet K is partnering with the University of North Carolina Kidney Center to conduct its first full test with adolescents with chronic kidney disease, beginning on Friday, October 31.

After this test, 3C Institute researchers and developers will refine the app based on user feedback and conduct a randomized clinical trial. Planet K is currently scheduled to launch in late 2015.

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    DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

    Chief of Research and Learning Content

    BIOGRAPHY

    Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    Expertise

    • autism
    • early development
    • behavioral measurement
    • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

    Education

    • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

    Selected Publications

    • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
    • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
    • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
    • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
    • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
    • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
    • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.