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How the psychosocial context of clinical trials differs from usual care: a qualitative study of acupuncture patients

How the psychosocial context of clinical trials differs from usual care: a qualitative study of acupuncture patients
How the psychosocial context of clinical trials differs from usual care: a qualitative study of acupuncture patients
Background: qualitative studies of participants' experiences in randomised clinical trials (RCTs) suggest that the psychosocial context of treatment in RCTs may be quite different to the psychosocial context of treatment in usual practice. This is important, as the psychosocial context of treatment is known to influence patient outcomes in chronic illness. Few studies have directly compared the psychosocial context of treatment across RCTs and usual practice. In this study, we explored differences in psychosocial context between RCT and usual practice settings, using acupuncture as our model.

Methods: we undertook a secondary analysis of existing qualitative interviews with 54 patients. 27 were drawn from a study of western and traditional acupuncture in usual practice (for a range of painful conditions). 27 were drawn from a qualitative study nested in an RCT of western acupuncture for osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. We used qualitative analysis software to facilitate an inductive thematic analysis in which we identified three main themes.

Results: in usual practice, starting acupuncture was more likely to be embedded in an active and ongoing search for pain relief, whereas in the RCT starting acupuncture was opportunistic. Usual practice patients reported few uncertainties and these had minimal consequences for them. In the RCT, patients experienced considerable uncertainties about their treatment and its effectiveness, and were particularly concerned about whether they were receiving real (or fake) acupuncture. Patients stopped acupuncture only at the end of the fixed course of treatment in the RCT, which was similar to those receiving acupuncture in the public sector National Health Service (NHS). In comparison, private sector patients re-evaluated and re-negotiated treatments particularly when starting to use acupuncture.

Conclusions: differences in psychosocial context between RCTs and usual practice could reduce the impact of acupuncture in RCT settings and/or lead to under-reporting of benefit by patients in trials. New trial designs that ensure participants' experiences are similar to usual practice should minimise differences in psychosocial context and help attenuate these potentially confounding effects
1471-2288
1-8
Barlow, Fiona
4acd979b-0420-4003-9422-e2f87f3ec5d4
Scott, Clare L.
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Coghlan, Beverly
a8d1f487-d3d2-4a52-93d3-99d53d9ed4d4
Lee, Philippa
21f9ca73-e0c5-42f1-85be-21ea9be400fa
White, Peter
536aaa93-447f-4103-ba6b-d424b51a5572
Lewith, George T.
0fc483fa-f17b-47c5-94d9-5c15e65a7625
Bishop, Felicity L.
1f5429c5-325f-4ac4-aae3-6ba85d079928
Barlow, Fiona
4acd979b-0420-4003-9422-e2f87f3ec5d4
Scott, Clare L.
9aee7a06-6161-4d3b-8721-c395654dca5f
Coghlan, Beverly
a8d1f487-d3d2-4a52-93d3-99d53d9ed4d4
Lee, Philippa
21f9ca73-e0c5-42f1-85be-21ea9be400fa
White, Peter
536aaa93-447f-4103-ba6b-d424b51a5572
Lewith, George T.
0fc483fa-f17b-47c5-94d9-5c15e65a7625
Bishop, Felicity L.
1f5429c5-325f-4ac4-aae3-6ba85d079928

Barlow, Fiona, Scott, Clare L., Coghlan, Beverly, Lee, Philippa, White, Peter, Lewith, George T. and Bishop, Felicity L. (2011) How the psychosocial context of clinical trials differs from usual care: a qualitative study of acupuncture patients. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 11 (79), 1-8. (doi:10.1186/1471-2288-11-79).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: qualitative studies of participants' experiences in randomised clinical trials (RCTs) suggest that the psychosocial context of treatment in RCTs may be quite different to the psychosocial context of treatment in usual practice. This is important, as the psychosocial context of treatment is known to influence patient outcomes in chronic illness. Few studies have directly compared the psychosocial context of treatment across RCTs and usual practice. In this study, we explored differences in psychosocial context between RCT and usual practice settings, using acupuncture as our model.

Methods: we undertook a secondary analysis of existing qualitative interviews with 54 patients. 27 were drawn from a study of western and traditional acupuncture in usual practice (for a range of painful conditions). 27 were drawn from a qualitative study nested in an RCT of western acupuncture for osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. We used qualitative analysis software to facilitate an inductive thematic analysis in which we identified three main themes.

Results: in usual practice, starting acupuncture was more likely to be embedded in an active and ongoing search for pain relief, whereas in the RCT starting acupuncture was opportunistic. Usual practice patients reported few uncertainties and these had minimal consequences for them. In the RCT, patients experienced considerable uncertainties about their treatment and its effectiveness, and were particularly concerned about whether they were receiving real (or fake) acupuncture. Patients stopped acupuncture only at the end of the fixed course of treatment in the RCT, which was similar to those receiving acupuncture in the public sector National Health Service (NHS). In comparison, private sector patients re-evaluated and re-negotiated treatments particularly when starting to use acupuncture.

Conclusions: differences in psychosocial context between RCTs and usual practice could reduce the impact of acupuncture in RCT settings and/or lead to under-reporting of benefit by patients in trials. New trial designs that ensure participants' experiences are similar to usual practice should minimise differences in psychosocial context and help attenuate these potentially confounding effects

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Published date: 2011
Organisations: Primary Care & Population Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 190971
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/190971
ISSN: 1471-2288
PURE UUID: e53b45ca-5d92-48cc-ae4b-f1edeb97ff19
ORCID for Felicity L. Bishop: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8737-6662

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Date deposited: 16 Jun 2011 11:15
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:15

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Contributors

Author: Fiona Barlow
Author: Clare L. Scott
Author: Beverly Coghlan
Author: Philippa Lee
Author: Peter White
Author: George T. Lewith

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