The following three projects were approved by the ISPRN Advisory Committee on Thursday 15th August 2011. Below is a short outline of each project, the methods that will be used, and information about where the project is up to and how you can become involved.
1. Development and validation of an insulin proficiency assessment tool for insulin self management in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus – Ms Dianna Fornasier
Aims
A mixed methods study is proposed to develop and validate an insulin proficiency assessment tool for insulin self management in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study will take place in the Illawarra/Shoalhaven and Riverina region in multiple primary care sites on patients at point of primary care over a period of six months.
Methods
Insulin Proficiency Assessment Tool Development
No tool was identified in database searches in CINAHL, ProQuest, Medline or PubMed which specifically has been designed and validated for use in assessing people with type 2 diabetes who are already using insulin. Therefore, this tool has no other validated tool to be assessed against to meet criterion validity. This tool was therefore designed for this research proposal to identify problem areas in self management of insulin.
This assessment tool was designed with the focus on the criteria for tool validation set forth by Eigenmann et al (2009). The study design is purposefully designed to achieve concurrent/convergent validity by assessing both quantitative and qualitative outcomes of the tool.
Content, Face and Construct Validity
Once ethics has been approved the assessment tool will be circulated to an expert review panel for comment on the questions and to assess the face and content validity.
Interpretability
Once the review panel is satisfied with the content of the assessment tool it will be tested for interpretability with a Read Aloud Focus Group (RAFG). The RAFG will consist of 12 participants: 8 T2DM patients recruited from the Shoalhaven Family Medical Centre, 2 registered nurses in general practice, and 2 non health care adults who do not have diabetes.
Pilot of the Insulin Proficiency Assessment Tool to assess inter-rater reliability
The project plans to recruit FORTY subjects from up to 8 practices in the Illawarra/Shoalhaven and Riverina regions over a period of six months. Credentialed Diabetes Educators will be involved in the implementation of the Pilot Insulin Proficiency Assessment Tool.
The credentialed diabetes educator will complete the survey tool for each patient that has consented to participate in the study as part of routine care.
Where is the project up to?
A literature review is currently underway and the project is currently under review by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Wollongong.
2. What is the effect on weight by regularly weighing of 20-70y old attendees in General Practice – Dr Duncan MacKinnon
Aims
The aim of the study is to establish if the weighing of patients at every consultation, followed by usual care, has an impact on healthy weight maintenance of 20-70-year-old general practice attendees.
Methods
The study will be a quantitative, prospective cohort of 151 patients in 6 general practices to establish if the weighing of patients at every GP consultation, followed by usual care by their GP, has an impact on weight maintenance.
The intervention will use Southern IML Pathology data to map the average BMI of the population up to the point of the study. This would act as control baseline data. National weight data will be used as an additional control. Following the intervention the mean weight gain of the sample will be compared with the population weight gain during the study, and will exclude data from practices that participated in the study to see if the intervention had an effect on weight maintenance of participating patients.
Where is the project up to?
A literature review is currently underway and an ethics application is being prepared for submission to the Human Research Ethics Committee.
3. Chaperone use in Australian General Practice – Dr Lucie Stanford
Aims
The project aims to investigate the current use of chaperones for intimate physical examination of adults in Australian general practice. It also aims to explore the attitudes of both GPs and patients to chaperone use.
Methods
This study will perform cross-sectional surveys of patient attitudes to chaperone use, as well as a pilot survey of a general practitioners’ attitude and their current practice regarding chaperone use. The data for both groups will be collected using separate survey instruments.
Where is the project up to?
A literature review is currently underway and surveys are under development for submission to the Human Research Ethics Committee.
How can I get involved?
If you are interested in any of the projects above please contact Bridget Dijkmans-Hadley on (bdh@uow.edu.au or (02) 42215958) and she will forward relevant information on to you.