COMFORT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patient priorities in relation to foot and ankle disorders in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases: a qualitative study
IRAS ID
318951
Contact name
Lara Chapman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
People with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), such as arthritis, often experience foot and ankle problems. These cause pain and affect people’s ability to carry out normal daily activities. There are lots of different treatments for foot and ankle problems, such as insoles, footwear, steroid injections and surgery. To help patients and health professionals make decisions about treatments for problems, we need evidence about which treatments work best. Researchers find this out by measuring the effects of treatments on health outcomes. Examples of outcomes include pain or how hard it is to walk. At present, there is no agreement on which outcomes should be measured in foot and ankle research studies. This makes it hard to compare and combine results from studies to decide which treatments work best. Patients, health professionals and researchers often have different opinions about which health outcomes are important. We would like to know what outcomes are important to patients with RMDs who have foot and ankle problems, so that we can reach agreement on what outcomes we should be measuring in this type of research.
In this study, patients with RMDs who have foot and ankle problems will be asked to attend a one-off interview. We plan to interview 20 patients. Each patient will be asked to talk about which outcomes they think are important and why. The questions will focus on what patients think treatments for their foot and ankle problems should achieve. Patients will be recruited to this study from their usual rheumatology or podiatry outpatient appointments. They will be able to choose whether they would like the interview to take place online, by telephone, or in their local hospital.
We will use the study findings to improve our understanding of patient priorities, and to guide further research.
REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/NE/0226
Date of REC Opinion
7 Nov 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion