DIPSS: Development of a high blood pressure management website

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Development of a hypertension self-management digital intervention to be integrated and supported within primary care: qualitative research with patients and health professionals

  • IRAS ID

    134766

  • Contact name

    Lucy Yardley

  • Contact email

    ly3@soton.ac.uk

  • Research summary

    Hypertension is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the largest cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Over 13% of NHS patients are currently recorded on hypertension registers but the Health Survey for England (2009) found that around half are inadequately controlled.

    Our research team is funded by NIHR to develop and evaluate a web-based intervention that gives advice, support and tools to help patients to self-monitor and self-manage their hypertension. The current project aims to get detailed feedback and input from people with hypertension and health professionals in primary care about our web based intervention whilst it is in the early stages of development. The research design is a series of qualitative studies (interviews and focus groups) with around 40 patients and 40 health professionals. After giving informed consent participants will be asked to share their thoughts and feelings about early versions of the intervention and any issues that it raises for managing hypertension within primary care.
    Study 1 involves face to face ’think aloud’ interviews where patients give ’live’ feedback as they look at and use the website
    Study 2 involves telephone interviews with patients who will give feedback on the website after trying it out for a few weeks from their own home
    Study 3 involves focus groups with health professionals about their views of the website.

    Interviews and focus groups will be tape recorded, transcribed and analysed for common and salient themes. This feedback will help us to create an intervention that is effective, cost-effective feasible and acceptable to both patients and health professionals. Once fully developed and amended in response to feedback from the current study the web based intervention will be tested in a RCT (a separate IRAS application will be submitted)

  • REC name

    London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    13/LO/1502

  • Date of REC Opinion

    23 Sep 2013

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion