Bmc Med Res Methodol
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Feb 2020
Randomized Controlled TrialThe methods and baseline characteristics of a VA randomized controlled study evaluating supported employment provided in primary care patient aligned care teams.
This article describes the design and baseline sample of a single-site trial comparing Individual Placement and Support (IPS) supported employment delivered within a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) primary care Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) to treatment-as-usual vocational rehabilitation (TAU-VR) that includes transitional work. ⋯ Unique design features include evaluating the efficacy of evidenced-based IPS within the primary care setting, having broad diagnostic eligibility, and defining the primary outcome criterion as "steady employment", i.e. holding a competitive job for ≥26 weeks of the 12-month follow-up period. The findings illustrate the characteristics of a primary care veteran sample in need of employment services.
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Dec 2019
Randomized Controlled Trial Pragmatic Clinical TrialStrategies for recruitment in general practice settings: the iSOLVE fall prevention pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial.
Falls are common among older people, and General Practitioners (GPs) could play an important role in implementing strategies to manage fall risk. Despite this, fall prevention is not a routine activity in general practice settings. The iSOLVE cluster randomised controlled trial aimed to evaluate implementation of a fall prevention decision tool in general practice. This paper sought to describe the strategies used and reflect on the enablers and barriers relevant to successful recruitment of general practices, GPs and their patients. ⋯ Recruitment in general practice settings can be successfully achieved through multiple recruitment strategies, effective communication and rapport building, ensuring research topic and design suit general practice needs, and using familiar communication strategies to engage patients.
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Dec 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialStrategies and challenges associated with recruiting retirement village communities and residents into a group exercise intervention.
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide the highest level of scientific evidence, but successful participant recruitment is critical to ensure the external and internal validity of results. This study describes the strategies associated with recruiting older adults at increased falls risk residing in retirement villages into an 18-month cluster RCT designed to evaluate the effects of a dual-task exercise program on falls and physical and cognitive function. ⋯ This study highlights that there are significant challenges associated with recruiting sufficient numbers of older adults from independent living retirement villages into an exercise intervention designed to improve health and well-being.
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Jan 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialStudying medical communication with video vignettes: a randomized study on how variations in video-vignette introduction format and camera focus influence analogue patients' engagement.
Video vignettes are used to test the effects of physicians' communication on patient outcomes. Methodological choices in video-vignette development may have far-stretching consequences for participants' engagement with the video, and thus the ecological validity of this design. To supplement the scant evidence in this field, this study tested how variations in video-vignette introduction format and camera focus influence participants' engagement with a video vignette showing a bad news consultation. ⋯ Our findings imply that using an audiovisual introduction combined with alternating camera focus depicting patient's emotions results in the highest levels of emotional engagement in analogue patients. This evidence can inform methodological decisions during the development of video vignettes, and thereby enhance the ecological validity of future video-vignettes studies.
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Aug 2017
Randomized Controlled TrialThe impact of self-interviews on response patterns for sensitive topics: a randomized trial of electronic delivery methods for a sexual behaviour questionnaire in rural South Africa.
Self-interviews, where the respondent rather than the interviewer enters answers to questions, have been proposed as a way to reduce social desirability bias associated with interviewer-led interviews. Computer-assisted self-interviews (CASI) are commonly proposed since the computer programme can guide respondents; however they require both language and computer literacy. We evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of using electronic methods to administer quantitative sexual behaviour questionnaires in the Somkhele demographic surveillance area (DSA) in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. ⋯ Electronic data collection methods, including self-interview methods, proved feasible and acceptable for completing quantitative sexual behaviour questionnaires in a poor, rural South African setting. However, each method had both benefits and costs, and the choice of method should be based on context-specific criteria.