Feasibility of a trial of risk reduction in sexual health clinics
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Sexual risk reduction interventions for patients attending sexual health clinics; feasibility to conduct an effectiveness trial (Sante project)
IRAS ID
172466
Contact name
Richard Gilson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2015/02/42, UCL data protection registration
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
Feasibility of targeting sexual behaviour interventions at sexual health clinics in England:
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to represent a major public health challenge in the UK. Research is required to identify brief, pragmatic, labour non-intensive interventions that can be tailored to the level of risk of the individual attending sexual health (SH) services. This study maps current practice in UK SH clinics with respect to delivery of sexual risk reduction interventions, identifying best practice, and exploring opportunities and challenges in delivering risk reduction interventions in SH clinics.
We plan five interlinked activities, collecting information from service providers and service users. We will conduct semi-structured interviews with service providers and users to gain an understanding of current approaches and attitudes to risk assessment in SH services and behavioural interventions, and the resources available and used for this (ACTIVITIES 1 & 3). This information will be used to inform the design of a web-based survey which will be sent to all SH service providers (ACTIVITY 2). A patient survey (a discrete choice experiment) will be conducted, where patients are asked to indicate their preferences for the design of various candidate risk reduction interventions, which have been identified from a systematic literature review (ACTIVITY 4). Finally, we will use focus groups to elicit opinions on how identified interventions can be appropriately adapted to the NHS setting (ACTIVITY 5). These activities will provide candidate interventions, and indicate opportunities and challenges for implementing them.
The study is being coordinated by University College London, with funding from the NIHR HTA scheme. We will be recruiting sexual health service providers from SH services in England, and services users from Brighton and London SH clinics, targeting men who have sex with men (MSM) and young people (aged 16 – 25).REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0690
Date of REC Opinion
6 May 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion