Measuring Anticipated Attitudes and Behavior Towards a New Medical Treatment in Lesotho

NCT06246058 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: ID213-2023; ub23Belus
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 475
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The primary research objective is to examine how uncertainty towards a new medical treatment changes in patients when a partner (can be any close other, i.e. romantic partner, family member, or a close friend) supports the new treatment choice and is willing to be involved in the patient's treatment. I hypothesize that when the patients know that their partner supports uptake of the new medical treatment and will physically accompany them to the visit, patients will (1) experience lower levels of uncertainty and (2) report a higher likelihood of participating in a new treatment in the future, as compared to patients who face the decision about the new treatment alone.

Conditions

Health Behavior; Motivation; Health Care Utilization; Consumer Behavior; Social Behavior; Health Care Seeking Behavior; Recruitment; Researcher-Subject Relations

Keywords

Social support; Uncertainty; Low-resource setting; Ambiguity aversion; Behavioral economics; Research administration; Recruitment success

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• AA-Med score

  Ambiguity aversion score difference between two survey groups; AA-Med contains 6 response items, each scored from 1 to 4 (1=disagree completely; 4=agree completely)

  1 time measurement immediately after intervention

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Recruitment rate

  1 time measurement immediately after intervention

Study Arms (4)

Survey Group 1 - Support

Receives a vignette with partner support component before answering AA-Med response items.

Behavioral: Partner support

Survey Group 2 - Control

Receives a vignette without partner support component before answering AA-Med response items.

Behavioral: Without Partner support

Recruitment Group 1 - Casual

Recruited by staff wearing casual attire.

Behavioral: Casual recruiter attire

Recruitment Group 2 - Formal

Recruited by staff wearing formal (clinical) attire

Behavioral: Formal recruiter attire

Interventions

Partner support BEHAVIORAL

The intervention group's survey vignette will include a component of partner support which serves as the key behavioral manipulation tested for this study's primary outcome.

Survey Group 1 - Support

Formal recruiter attire BEHAVIORAL

The SWAT will separately test recruitment rates - as measured by rate of survey completion divided by total number of individuals approached - based on how the recruiters are dressed. FORMAL dress code of the recruiter is the intervention in this case, defined as clinical attire alluding to some clinical authority.

Recruitment Group 2 - Formal

Without Partner support BEHAVIORAL

The intervention group's survey vignette will NOT include a component of partner support which serves as the key behavioral manipulation tested for this study's primary outcome.

Survey Group 2 - Control

Casual recruiter attire BEHAVIORAL

The SWAT will separately test recruitment rates - as measured by rate of survey completion divided by total number of individuals approached - based on how the recruiters are dressed. CASUAL dress code of the recruiter is the intervention in this case.

Recruitment Group 1 - Casual

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Recruitment will occur in the Butha Buthe district hospital and health centers in the Butha Buthe district.

You may qualify if:

• Adults over 18 years of age
• Are comfortable reading and writing in Sesotho or English
• Attending as a patient in Butha Buthe-area hospital or health center for a known clinical diagnosis or standard health screening related to one of these illness categories:
• HIV
• Other sexually-transmitted infection (i.e. gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis)
• Breathing problem/ tuberculosis
• Heart issues/ blood pressure
• Diabetes/ sugar level
• Bone/ muscle problem
• Mental health
• Memory/ thinking problem
• Teeth/ mouth problem
• Cancer
• Maternal health (i.e. pregnancy, post-partum care)

You may not qualify if:

• Have participated in this study before
• Visible intoxication and/or distress, as deemed by trained research assistant
• Unable to make independent decisions; unable to complete informed consent
• Warrants emergency medical care
• Visiting the hospital for another person (i.e. their child, relative, partner)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland: lead
• SolidarMed: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Butha Buthe Government Hospital

Butha-Buthe, Lesotho

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Han PK, Reeve BB, Moser RP, Klein WM. Aversion to ambiguity regarding medical tests and treatments: measurement, prevalence, and relationship to sociodemographic factors. J Health Commun. 2009 Sep;14(6):556-72. doi: 10.1080/10810730903089630.

  PMID: 19731127 BACKGROUND

Related Links

• OSF project page

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Behavior; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Consumer Behavior; Social Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior; Treatment Adherence and Compliance

Study Officials

• Grace H Yoon, MSc

  University Hospital Basel, University of Basel

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 8, 2024
• First Posted: February 7, 2024
• Study Start: February 15, 2024
• Primary Completion: September 13, 2024
• Study Completion: September 13, 2024
• Last Updated: November 18, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, CSR, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: Starting six months after completion of data collection for up to 24 months thereafter.
• Access Criteria: Independent researchers with academic interest.

Locations

LE (1)