Int J Pharm Pract 2002:10:177-184
Pharmacy Practice, Room S114, Building A15, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia
Bandana Saini, MPharm, MBA, PhD student
Rajend Jogia, honours student
Ines Krass, PhD, MPS, senior lecturer in pharmacy practice
Carol Armour, PhD, MPS, professor in pharmacy practice
Correspondence: Ms Saini
Int J Pharm Pract 2002:10:177-84
Original Papers
Evaluation of a practice-based research design using an asthma care model
BANDANA SAINI, RAJEND JOGIA, INES KRASS and CAROL ARMOUR
Objective
— To evaluate a quasi-experimental research design using a practice-based
model in community pharmacy by comparing baseline characteristics of the
control and intervention samples used.
Methods — An asthma care model was chosen to trial the use of a
quasi-experimental design. Two geographically separate areas were selected
as intervention and control areas. Pharmacists from the intervention area
were trained and provided with resources to set up asthma specialty practices
and recruit intervention patients. Control area pharmacists were not offered
training but were requested to recruit patients with asthma to act as
a control sample to data being collected from the intervention population.
The research design aimed to establish equivalence between the two groups.
In both cases, data were gathered using an "asthma file," which consisted
of a patient demographics and asthma information form and a series of
previously validated questionnaires to examine humanistic outcomes.
Setting — Community pharmacies in two non-urban areas of New South
Wales, Australia.
Key findings — Nine of 15 intervention pharmacies recruited 52
patients into the study and 11 of 20 control pharmacies recruited 50 patients.
No apparent differences existed between the two samples with respect to
the humanistic parameters of asthma-related quality of life, asthma general
knowledge and perceived control of asthma. In terms of asthma severity
and disease-specific parameters, such as asthma-related hospitalisations,
no statistically significant differences were found. Control and intervention
groups were thus found to be equivalent for the purposes of the study.
Conclusion — The data support the use of the quasi-experimental
research method employed in the study.