Exploratory Study of User and Clinician Outcomes in Orthotic Practice
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Exploratory Study of User and Clinician Outcomes in Orthotic Practice
IRAS ID
226122
Contact name
Anita Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Salford
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
The importance of evaluating outcomes of healthcare is well established and emphasised at a national level. New healthcare challenges such as obesity, diabetes and an ageing population have resulted in strains on resources and pose challenges for healthcare providers. To ensure resources are used appropriately increased emphasis has been placed on the recording of outcomes of healthcare. These commonly focus on improvements to ‘quality of life’ and not just on rates of mortality and morbidity as has historically been the case. \n\nOrthotic devices can be used on the entire musculoskeletal system and for a wide variety of diseases and pathologies. They are often unique to the patients and can have more than one aim. This variety makes the selection of appropriate tools to measure outcomes difficult. There also exists little general consensus as to which outcomes should be evaluated and thus which tools are most suitable to employ. \n\nThis research will conduct an initial internal advisory group at East Lancashire hospitals trust and a detailed review of the literature to explore the current practice and opinions. Following on from this focus groups will be conducted involving orthotic services users and professionals in the field. Semi structured questions will be utilised to engage participants in discussion of outcomes relevant to orthotics from both a patient and professional perspective. Thematic analysis will be employed to analyse the data collected from these focus groups and basic demographic data will be collected alongside. Themes that emerge from the data may inform knowledge of outcomes considered relevant to patients and professionals, may aid in the selection of appropriate outcome measure tools or contribute towards the content of an orthotic specific outcome measure tool.\n\n
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0379
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion