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Assessing effectiveness of home care for persons with AIDS: analysis of methodological problems
- Source :
- AIDS care. 14(5)
- Publication Year :
- 2002
-
Abstract
- The aim of this paper is to assess the methodological problems of an unsuccessful randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted to evaluate the effectiveness, in terms of survival and quality of life, of the early offer of home care (HC) to persons with AIDS (PWA). The study carried out was an intention-to-treat RCT. Persons in the treatment group (TG) received the offer of HC at the moment of AIDS diagnosis; those in the control group (CG) received it six months from diagnosis. Many problems have hindered the progress of the study: particularly, the low compliance to the offer and the failure to enroll the required sample size have made the results unreliable. Analogous problems have been reported within other trials evaluating HC in different fields. The present study thoroughly evaluates the specific ethical and methodological problems encountered in designing and conducting a RCT on HC for PWA. We conclude that, before designing and conducting a RCT in this field, it is advisable to examine some main issues carefully, such as the acceptability of the offer of treatment, the expected compliance and the required size of the study population. If one or more of these elements prove to be problematic, the results of the trial risk being seriously compromised, and alternative approaches should be considered.
- Subjects :
- Gerontology
Research design
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
Health (social science)
Social Psychology
Adolescent
Rome
law.invention
Treatment and control groups
Quality of life (healthcare)
Randomized controlled trial
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
law
Software Design
Medicine
Humans
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
business.industry
Public health
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
medicine.disease
Home Care Services
Sample size determination
Research Design
Family medicine
Sample Size
Quality of Life
Patient Compliance
business
AIDS diagnosis
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 09540121
- Volume :
- 14
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- AIDS care
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....0db31ce2530ad905b4ed29ee9589fb61