Clinical Interventions as Networks
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Clinical Interventions as Networks: the role of social interactions within communities of practice
IRAS ID
188464
Contact name
Jenelle Clarke
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 31 days
Research summary
The Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) East Midlands (EM) looks to improve patient health by getting research into clinical practice. CLAHRC EM research projects usually involve the use of a clinical intervention, which could involve the use of technology or a learning tool to manage or prevent health conditions. In order to get this intervention into practice, we need to understand how it is carried out by the project teams and their partners.
CLAHRC projects bring together a diverse group consisting of the project team, healthcare and education professionals, patients, carers, public involvement groups, and NHS commissioners. These people form a network to share their knowledge and experience. To make a clinical intervention happen, people use different kinds of communications including meetings, telephone calls, video calling via the internet (similar to Skype), texting, emails and clinical sessions. The gap in our understanding is how individuals use these interactions to negotiate differences of priorities, practices, experiences and positions in order to collectively implement the intervention. Moreover, how individuals feel about an intervention and working within a network has not been fully explored. Both positive emotions, such as confidence, and negative emotions such as social exclusion, may influence the implementation process.
We will explore how clinical networks use interactions to make clinical interventions happen. We will look for how individuals share their knowledge and experience and explore the role of emotions. Lastly, we will analyse the similarities and differences in how health education and technology projects are carried out.
There are three methods of collecting data:
1) Observation of project and theme meetings and events, training sessions, and observation of clinical interventions where appropriate.
2) Analyse project leaflets, posters, training materials and information for healthcare practitioners and patients.
3) Interview project team members and their partners.There are three CLAHRC EM NHS projects that we will conduct research with:
1) Helping Urgent Care Users Cope with Distress about Physical Complaints (NHS REC Reference: 14/LO/1102. University of Nottingham Sponsor Reference: 14056). This intervention involves Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) delivered via WebEx (an online platform for remote sessions and information sharing) to reduce health anxiety in secondary care. Please note that this project is referred to throughout this document as ‘Urgent Care Users’.
2) Electronic delivery of problem solving CBT for depression in adolescents and young adults who self-harm (NHS REC Reference: 14EM1084. University of Nottingham Sponsor Reference: 14059). This intervention involves remote CBT via WebEx to reduce self-harm for young people (aged 16-30). Please note that this project is referred to throughout this document as ‘eDASH’.
3) Let’s Prevent (implementation study, no NHS REC or Sponsor reference numbers). This intervention involves implementing a Type 2 diabetes clinical pathway to identify patients and provide them with a tailored educational program to increase exercise and healthy eating.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/YH/0108
Date of REC Opinion
11 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion