Bidad, N;
MacDonald, L;
Winters, ZE;
Edwards, SJL;
Emson, M;
Griffin, CL;
Bliss, J;
(2016)
How informed is declared altruism in clinical trials? A qualitative interview study of patient decision-making about the QUEST trials (Quality of Life after Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction).
Trials
, 17
, Article 431. 10.1186/s13063-016-1550-7.
Preview |
Text
art%3A10.1186%2Fs13063-016-1550-7.pdf - Published Version Download (658kB) | Preview |
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) often fail to recruit sufficient participants, despite altruism being cited as their motivation. Previous investigations of factors influencing participation decisions have been methodologically limited. This study evaluated how women weigh up different motivations after initially expressing altruism, and explored their understanding of a trial and its alternatives. The trial was the ‘Quality of Life after Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction’ (QUEST) trial. METHODS: Thirty-nine women participated in qualitative interviews 1 month post-surgery. Twenty-seven women (10 trial decliners and 17 acceptors) who spontaneously mentioned ‘altruism’ were selected for thematic analysis. Verbatim transcripts were coded independently by two researchers. Participants’ motivations to accept or decline randomisation were cross-referenced with their understanding of the QUEST trials and the process of randomisation. RESULTS: The seven emerging themes were: (1) altruism expressed by acceptors and decliners; (2) overriding personal needs in decliners; (3) pure altruism in acceptors; (4) ‘hypothetical altruism’ amongst acceptors; (5) weak altruism amongst acceptors; (6) conditional altruism amongst acceptors; and (7) sense of duty to participate. Poor understanding of the trial rationale and its implications was also evident. CONCLUSIONS: Altruism was a motivating factor for participation in the QUEST randomised controlled trials where the main outcomes comprised quality of life and allocated treatments comprised established surgical procedures. Women’s decisions were influenced by their understanding of the trial. Both acceptors and decliners of the trial expressed ‘altruism’, but most acceptors lacked an obvious treatment preference, hoped for personal benefits regarding a treatment allocation, or did not articulate complete understanding of the trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: QUEST A, ISRCTN38846532; Date assigned 6 January 2010. QUEST B, ISRCTN92581226; Date assigned 6 January 2010.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | How informed is declared altruism in clinical trials? A qualitative interview study of patient decision-making about the QUEST trials (Quality of Life after Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s13063-016-1550-7 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13063-016-1550-7 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
| Keywords: | Breast cancer; Altruism; Informed consent; Qualitative |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Practice and Policy UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Surgery and Interventional Sci UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Science and Technology Studies |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1532794 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
