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What do you need to know to be on a Trial Steering Committee?

The Trial Steering Committees can seem a bit daunting, but the Trial Methodology Research Network (TMRN) in Ireland is running a 1-day online workshop on 15th May 2023 on what to expect on a Trial Steering Committee. The workshop faculty is superb and will give researcher, public, governance, and funder perspectives on Trial Steering Committees.

You can download the program at the link below and register for the workshop at Eventbrite registration link.

For more details and the program, please follow this link: [TMRN Trial Steering Committee Workshop Program 15th May 2023](link to the program).

What do you need to know to be on a Trial Steering Committee? Read More »

Need to do better at involving patients and public in trial outcome selection

In 2022 we published an article called ‘Getting it wrong most of the time? Comparing trialists’ choice of primary outcome with what patients and health professionals want‘. It looked at the outcomes selected in 44 breast cancer and kidney trials and asked patients and health professionals how they would rank those outcomes in terms of importance. We were particularly interested in the most important – the primary outcome. In summary, from the perspective of patients and health professionals, trial teams chose the wrong primary outcome 72% of the time.

A public contributor on twitter asked if any of the 44 trials involved patients and publics in selecting their outcomes. Perhaps those that did were more likely to have a primary outcome that matched what patients and health professionals wanted?

It was a good idea and an article written together with the public contributor who suggested the study has just been published. In summary, none one of the 44 trial teams involved patients and the public in choosing outcomes.

Plenty of room to do better in other words.

Need to do better at involving patients and public in trial outcome selection Read More »

Including people who lack capacity to consent in trials: testing a new tool

Can you help with the development of the INCLUDE Impaired Capacity to Consent Framework by piloting the framework and sharing feedback about how it can be used in practice?

Trials involving adults who lack capacity to consent can be challenging. Following on from the NIHR INCLUDE guidance to improve the inclusion of under-served groups in research, and the development of the Ethnicity Framework, members of the inclusivity sub-group of the Trial Methodology Research Partnership (TMRP) Trial Conduct Working Group are now leading the development of a framework to help researchers to design trials to be inclusive of adults with impaired capacity to consent.

We are asking researchers involved in the design and conduct of trials which may include adults with impaired capacity to consent to pilot the framework using a research proposal (this could be a real or hypothetical trial) and provide feedback. You can contribute as an individual or within a small team, and the activity is anticipated to take 2-3 hours. With your permission, your contribution will be acknowledged by name in the framework documents.

Including people who lack capacity to consent in trials: testing a new tool Read More »

Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences: special issue on SWATs

The journal Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences is running a special issue addressing Studies Within A Trial (SWATs) (guest editors Professor Mike Clarke and Dr Adwoa Parker).

The aim of this special issue is to promote the use of SWATs and to report key methodological advances. The journal is inviting submissions from researchers for completed SWATs and SWAT methodology (both quantitative and qualitative). There will be no article processing fees for authors, and articles will be free to access.

The deadline for submission is October 30th, using the following link: Link to Submission. In your cover letter, please state that you are submitting to the SWATs special issue.

A SWAT Reporting Guidelines Template is currently being piloted, and authors are welcome to use it to report their SWATs. This is available at: SWAT Reporting Guidelines Template (scroll down). To provide feedback on the SWAT Reporting Guidelines Template, please email: prometheus-group@york.ac.uk

For any correspondence, queries, or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process, please contact:

Joel Gagnier, Editor-in-Chief: jgagnier@umich.edu
Mike Clarke, Guest Editor (SWATs): m.clarke@qub.ac.uk
Adwoa Parker, Editorial Board Member (SWATs): adwoa.parker@york.ac.uk”
If you need further details or have any questions, please let me know.

Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences: special issue on SWATs Read More »

Trial Forge SWAT network

What is the Trial Forge SWAT Network?

We’d like to bring groups that do SWATs together into a network, which would be a good way of keeping everyone up to speed with what sort of SWATs people would like to see being done, which SWATs people are doing now and to run seminars where we could discuss issues that are challenging, or just interesting. Some seminars would be just for the network, others could be opened up.

A key player in organizing the network will be the York Trial Forge SWAT Centre at the York Trials unit, together with the Aberdeen Trial Forge Centre.

We’d now like to invite groups to join the Network.

How does a group become a member?

Like all clubs worth joining, there are a few entry requirements:

The group has to have completed at least one SWAT (preferably published), be doing a SWAT right now or interested in doing a SWAT in the near future.
The group has at least two staff who are ‘SWAT researchers’ and who can be the points of contact for network activity.
The group has to be keen on starting at least one new SWAT every year.
The group has to be willing to register its SWATs on the SWAT Repository.
That’s it. The group can be anywhere in the world and working in any trial area.

How do we join the Trial Forge SWAT Network?

Send an email to prometheus-group@york.ac.uk and info@trialforge.org, and we can have a chat.

Trial Forge SWAT network Read More »

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