Intervention to guide people in seeking help for specific symptoms V9
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Trial of an intervention to guide people in seeking help for specific symptoms V9
IRAS ID
182839
Contact name
Barbara Farquharson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Edinburgh Napier University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 13 days
Research summary
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is a number one cause of death worldwide. In its serious form, it can lead to a heart attack or unstable angina. It is vital that people with symptoms of heart attack receive urgent medical attention as life-saving treatments are only effective if received within 2 hours of symptom onset. Despite this, delay to receipt of treatment is common. A large part of this delay is due to patients not seeking appropriate medical help immediately after the start of symptoms. Reductions in patient delay can lead to significant reductions in deaths or disability from heart attacks.\n\nWe are currently developing an audio-visual intervention to change patient behaviour in heart attack symptoms, using knowledge from psychological theories, expert consensus and existing research evidence. In this study, we aim to test this intervention in a ‘proof-of-concept’ randomised controlled before and after trial using simulated symptom scenarios. The main aims of the study are to establish whether:\n\na) the interventions are effective in changing patients’ intentions to phone ambulance immediately in response to heart attack symptoms ≥15 mins and related thoughts and feelings?\nb) a text+visual or text-only intervention is more effective than usual information (control)?\n\nThe study will be conducted in two phases. Phase 1 is a pilot study aimed at assessing the likely impact and acceptability of the intervention and the trial in a small group of volunteers. Phase 2 is the randomised controlled before and after trial involving patients with recent experience of cardiac emergency. The trial will be web-based with a follow-up at three months. In the web-based part, study participants will be randomly allocated to one of three groups: usual care, usual care plus text + visual intervention, or usual care plus text-only intervention. Participants will first receive eight symptom scenarios, each followed by a questionnaire. They will then receive the intervention/usual care as per the randomised group. Finally, they will receive another eight scenarios each followed by a questionnaire. The 3 month follow-up involves collection of data from participants’ health records on their actual presentations to the health service within three months from completing the web-based study. The data will be collected by researchers from the hospital and GP records. \n
REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
15/SS/0155
Date of REC Opinion
15 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion