{"id":126,"date":"2022-02-17T12:37:41","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T12:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/?p=126"},"modified":"2022-03-09T10:58:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T10:58:50","slug":"creating-dialogue-is-key-to-developing-new-health-innovations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/2022\/02\/17\/creating-dialogue-is-key-to-developing-new-health-innovations\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating dialogue is key to developing new health innovations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professor Simon Coulton explains why engaging with different audiences at every stage of the research cycle ensures health research addresses the needs of those who access treatment, those delivering it and those commissioning services. Written by Dr Ann Kinzer.<\/p>\n

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Simon Coulton is Professor\u00a0of Health Research\u00a0at the University of Kent. He specialises\u00a0in\u00a0designing,\u00a0conducting,\u00a0and\u00a0assessing\u00a0clinical trials\u00a0of new health innovations\u00a0and\u00a0has a particular interest in psychosocial interventions to promote\u00a0behaviour change,\u00a0especially\u00a0with regards to alcohol and substance abuse.<\/p>\n

Professor Coulton explains:\u00a0\u2018While my research involves clinical trials it is very focussed on answering important questions in real-life clinical practice\u2019.<\/p>\n

Most of\u00a0Professor\u00a0Coulton\u2019s work\u00a0involves\u00a0randomised control trials,\u00a0particularly pragmatic trials. This approach\u00a0deals with\u00a0key clinical questions in real clinical settings rather than tightly controlled laboratory\u00a0environments, and\u00a0addresses the question of whether new interventions are effective in the real world. In addition, an evaluation of effectiveness is usually accompanied with an evaluation of cost-effectiveness exploring the economic impact of a new intervention.<\/p>\n

A classic example of his work is the\u00a0\u2018Screening and Intervention Programme for Sensible Drinkers\u2019 (SIPS), where he and his\u00a0collaborators\u00a0explored different intensities of interventions to address problem drinking in primary care, emergency departments and criminal justice settings. Staff in\u00a0these settings were trained in how to identify and intervene with problem drinkers.\u00a0Participants were followed-up some months after being identified to explore how effective each of the different intensities had been in changing drinking behaviour. As a pragmatic study the approach allowed us to explore the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness but also to explore how acceptable and practical the different intensities were to deliver in different settings.<\/p>\n

The trials that Professor\u00a0Coulton designs\u00a0combine\u00a0scientific rigor with real-life application\u00a0and\u00a0provide the best evidence of whether a new intervention or treatment is effective.\u00a0Developing\u00a0and conducting this type of\u00a0randomised control trials\u00a0can be\u00a0challenging.\u00a0They are by their nature complex and often require multiple sites across the country or\u00a0in some cases across the world. Measurements need to be valid and reliable,\u00a0and analysis is often very detailed. A key aspect of these studies is interpreting and presenting the results in a way that is useful and understandable to the target audience, whether that is the clinical community, key policy makers and commissioners,\u00a0or the general public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s quite an art to sit down and communicate your findings to different audiences and this is helped by including stakeholders in the entire process, from the conceptual idea, to design, conduct, analysis and interpretation of trial results<\/p>\n