Tag Archives: trials

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Improvement Science and Research Methods seminar: Prof Sarah Redsell on recruitment to community based trials

We had the privilege of welcoming Professor Sarah Redsell, Professor of Public Health Nursing at Anglia Ruskin University, to give the last of this season’s CaHRU/LIH Improvement Science and Research Methods seminar series.

edfHer talk entitled ‘Understanding health professional study recruitment behaviour in community-based research’described her ground-breaking work over the past decade on early detection and prevention of childhood obesity. Chilhood obesity is a major public health issues in high income countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and mainland European states. Health visitors, are in frequent contact with parents of children under five years of age who they provide a universal service to, which suggests they may be ideally placed to recruit parents and their children to NHS research studies.

The seminar focussed on challenges in recruiting parents to a feasibility study which aimed to identify and intervene with parents whose infants are at risk of developing overweight and obesity. A follow-up study used the Theoretical Domains Framework to understand health visitor and midwives study recruitment behaviour and highlighted the need to include an understanding of health professionals’ behaviour, including their knowledge, competing priorities and role conflict.

[su_document url=”https://communityandhealth.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2018/07/Redsell-Understanding-HP-recruitment-250618.pdf” width=”660″]Multi-morbidity, goal-oriented care, the community and equity[/su_document]

By Prof A N Siriwardena

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Improvement Science and Research Methods seminar: Prof Alicia O’Cathain on process evaluation in clinical trials

alicia2 Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Sheffield, Alicia O’Cathain, who heads the Medical Care Research Unit at ScHARR, gave an outstanding CaHRU/LIH seminar on ‘Using process evaluations alongside randomised controlled trials and other outcome evaluations’ on 23 May 2018 at the University of Lincoln.

CaHRU_logotypeThe seminar was based on the Medical Research Council guidance on process evaluations (Moore G, Audrey S, Barker M, Bond L, Bonell C, Cooper C, Hardeman W, Moore L, O’Cathain A, Tannaze T, Wight D, Baird J. Process evaluation of complex interventions. Medical Research Council guidance. BMJ 2015 350:h1258) which Prof O’Cathain co-authored. She described the importance of process evaluations using mixed methods in helping researchers realise how understanding trial processes can help us appreciate how or why a complex interventions works or does not work as intended, which is critical to its effectiveness and subsequent implementation.

LIFH-logo-web2She went on to describe the contextual factors that determine how an intervention works, limit what is delivered, affect how it works and govern what effects it has. Qualitative interviews with those delivering or receiving the intervention can help elucidate the components that are deemed useful and their perceived benefits while quantitative analysis can help to enumerate the mediators of any effects. The analysis can be integrated to develop a logic model and programme theory of the intervention.

Prof O’Cathain concluded by covering key aspects of planning, analysis and reporting of process evaluations and introducing her new book on the subject.

[su_document url=”https://communityandhealth.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2018/07/OCathain-Using-process-evaluations-alongside-RCTs.pdf” width=”660″]Multi-morbidity, goal-oriented care, the community and equity[/su_document]

 

By Prof A N Siriwardena

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Experts convene for Wellcome funded Network Exploring Ethics in Ambulance Trials (NEAT) project meeting

NOn 4th November 2016, CaHRU played host to an eminent group of researchers, ethicists and patient representatives in a meeting to discuss ethics in ambulance based trials. The group was formed as part of the Network Exploring Ethics in Ambulance Trials (NEAT) project, funded by the Wellcome Trust, which is seeking to understand the issues related to ethics in ambulance trials. The meeting had two main objectives, firstly to update the network on the findings of the NEAT project to date and secondly to discuss potential recommendations and future funding opportunities.

neat_ws1In the morning presentations by Dr Adele Langlois and Dr Stephanie Armstrong, outlined the findings of the project to date. These included a systematic review of published randomised controlled trials, a review of global and national regulations and the preliminary results of interview studies with expert informants, paramedics and patients who have been involved in ambulance trials. The morning sessions generated a lot of lively debate centring on both consent models and regulations, and in fact where there was agreement and conflict between these areas.

NAfter a pleasant lunch the discussion continued with possible recommendations of the project being that more work need to be done to clarify the guidance and regulations ultimately leading to a code of practice for ambulance trials and accompanying common ethics framework. Funding opportunities were discussed and the day ended with an agreement that there should be a commitment to continue the work of the network through collaborative research opportunities.

By Dr Stephanie Armstrong