OBJECTIVES To test the feasibility of conducting a controlled trial into the effectiveness of a self-management programme integrated into stroke rehabilitation. DESIGN A feasibility cluster-randomised design was utilised with stroke rehabilitation teams as units of randomisation. SETTING Community-based stroke rehabilitation teams in London. PARTICIPANTS 78 patients with a diagnosis of st...

BACKGROUND This paper discusses the establishment of a clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine candidate in Kambia District, Northern Sierra Leone during the epidemic, and analyses the role of social science research in ensuring that lessons from the socio-political context, the recent experience of the Ebola outbreak, and learning from previous clinical trials were incorporated in the development o...

BACKGROUND Due to outdoor and residual transmission and insecticide resistance, long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) will be insufficient as stand-alone malaria vector control interventions in many settings as programmes shift toward malaria elimination. Combining additional vector control interventions as part of an integrated strategy would potentially ove...

BACKGROUND Every year an estimated three million neonates die globally and two hundred thousand of these deaths occur in Pakistan. Majority of these neonates die in rural areas of underdeveloped countries from preventable causes (infections, complications related to low birth weight and prematurity). Similarly about three hundred thousand mother died in 2010 and Pakistan is among ten countries ...

BACKGROUND There is strong evidence to support the effectiveness of Brief Intervention (BI) in reducing alcohol consumption in primary healthcare. METHODS AND DESIGN This study is a two-arm randomised controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of BI delivered by community pharmacists in their pharmacies. Eligible and consenting participants (aged 18 years or older) will be randomised in ...

In a previous report, we demonstrated the efficacy of an intervention to promote colorectal cancer screening among African Americans in a controlled community intervention trial. Participants in the intervention, named EPICS (Educational Program to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening), were twice as likely to be screened after six months as those in the control group. In the current project, w...

1. In the ‘Background’ section, the sentence: “...limiting effective reduction of hypertension-related morbidity and mortality rates in patients” should be corrected to read: “...limiting effective reduction of hypertensionrelated morbidity and mortality rates among patients”. 2. In the ‘Background’ section, the sentence: “A clusterrandomized trial of task shifting and blood pressure in communi...

In a study published elsewhere (Wood and Elwood, 1966) the associations between the severity of various symptoms and haemoglobin levels in subjects who took part in a community survey is described. The present paper describes a double-blind randomized clinical trial of the effects on these symptoms of oral iron therapy in a sample of the women seen during the community survey. In addition some ...

Community treatment orders (CTOs) have been widely introduced to address the problems faced by 'revolving door' patients. A number of case-control studies have been conducted but show conflicting results concerning the effectiveness of CTOs. The Oxford Community Treatment Order Evaluation Trial (OCTET) is the third randomised controlled trial (RCT) to show that CTOs do not reduce rates of readm...