Antibiotic Negotiations: Conversation Analytic Project

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Antibiotic Negotiations: Conversation Analytic Project (ANCAP)

  • IRAS ID

    214304

  • Contact name

    Geraldine Leydon

  • Contact email

    gerry@soton.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Southampton

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    n/a, n/a

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 10 months, 28 days

  • Research summary

    Many patients in primary care are being prescribed antibiotics to treat mild infections such as colds, earaches and sore throats. Many of these are viral rather than bacterial infections that tend to get better on their own and which can be treated with self-care (such as rest, fluids and mild pain killers). The overuse and misuse of antibiotics in primary care is an increasing national and global concern due to the increasing risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (when bacteria becomes resistant to treatments leading to increased risks of illness lasting longer, increased symptom severity and even death). Current UK health guidelines and research is centred on ways to understand and improve how health care professionals prescribe antibiotics. Research findings show that open and clear communication between GPs and patients is important in order for antibiotic prescribing to improve; but, there is a lack of evidence about what open and clear communication looks like and how it might be achieved in practice.

    The proposed project will examine a large sample of video-recorded GP-patient consultations from primary care practices (GP) across the South of England and will analyse how GPs and patients discuss and negotiate the need for antibiotics using Conversation Analysis (CA). We have received funding from the NIHR School of Primary Care Research (SPCR) to conduct this research, and are seeking ethical approval within the current application to access the video-recordings within these three datasets. All participants have, or will have, consented for their recording and its associated data to be used in future research projects subject to further ethical approval, approval we are seeking through this current IRAS application.

  • REC name

    West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    17/WM/0204

  • Date of REC Opinion

    23 May 2017

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion