IMP2ART Cluster Randomised Trial with a Nested Process Evaluation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Implementing supported asthma self-management in routine clinical care: designing, refining, piloting and evaluating clinical and cost-effectiveness of a whole systems implementation strategy (IMP2ART): Cluster Randomised Trial
IRAS ID
256672
Contact name
Hilary Pinnock
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Although we know that supported self-management helps people live with their asthma it isn’t widely provided: fewer than 1 in 4 people who replied to an Asthma UK web survey owned an asthma action plan. There are many reasons why self-management is not more widely used. These include 1) lack of resources available for patients, 2) healthcare professionals not possessing the right skills, and 3) the way that asthma management is organised in the health service. The IMP2ART programme of work has developed a new approach to target all three areas. Examples of resources include: 1) new patient resources; 2) training for general practice staff and 3) organisational support (audit and monthly feedback and new patient-centred asthma review templates).
We will now test the IMP2ART approach in a UK-wide trial involving 144 general practices. Practices will be assigned by chance to receive either the IMP2ART approach or continue with their usual asthma care. A facilitator will visit IMP2ART practices over a year, offer the IMP2ART resources, and discuss with them the best strategies for providing supporting self-management in their practice.
We will measure the success of our intervention by comparing in the two groups:
• Unscheduled consultations for asthma attacks recorded in anonymised electronic health records from the practice.
• The number of action plans completed by sending a quality improvement questionnaire to a random sample of people with asthma. This questionnaire will also ask about asthma control and confidence in their care
• Cost-effectiveness from anonymised routine data and a cost questionnaire sent to a random sample of people with asthma
Interviews with, and observation of, practice staff will help us understand how and why the IMP2ART approach worked or didn’t.
If successful our strategy will be immediately ready for roll-out to benefit people with asthma and the NHS.REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EM/0279
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion