Amanda L Burston

Children With Lesbian Parents: A Community Study

Existing research on children with lesbian parents is limited by reliance on volunteer or convenience samples. The present study examined the quality of parent-child relationships and the socioemotional and gender development of a community sample of 7-year-old children with lesbian parents. Families were recruited through the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a geographic population study of 14,000 mothers and their children. Thirty-nine lesbian-mother families, 74 two-parent heterosexual families, and 60 families headed by single heterosexual mothers were compared on standardized interview and questionnaire measures administered to mothers, co-mothers/fathers, children, and teachers. Findings are in line with those of earlier investigations showing positive mother-child relationships and well-adjusted children.

Openness in lesbian-mother families regarding mother's sexual orientation and child's conception by donor insemination

This study aimed to examine how lesbian mothers deal with their 5-9-year-old childrens growing realizations about the unusual nature of their family. Using standardized interviews with 38 mothers, the study examined how open lesbian mothers are with their children and others about their sexual orientation and about the childs conception, where this was by donor insemination (DI). The study also looked at how much the children seemed to understand and how the knowledge may have affected them. Half of the 38 children were fully aware of their mothers sexual orientation and only two were completely unaware. The majority of children developed awareness gradually, rather than being told. No children reacted negatively to finding out. Comparisons with earlier studies suggest these children have a greater awareness than their counterparts from 30 years ago. Ten children had been conceived by DI while the remainder were conceived in heterosexual relationships with the mother later identifying as lesbian. All DI mothers had told (n=9) or planned to tell (n=1) their children about their conception.

Involving patients in research

Increasingly, patients and members of the public are involved in the design, conduct and dissemination of research. INVOLVE, the UK’s national body for patient and public involvement, usefully defines this sort of involvement as: ‘research being carried out “with” or “by” members of the public rather than “to”, “about” or “for” them’ (INVOLVE, 2012). At the Musculoskeletal Research Unit in Bristol, we are often asked about our patient involvement work. In light of the questions that we are asked, this editorial highlights some current practice and guidance. We also reflect on the impact of our patient involvement activity and hope that this serves as a useful introduction and points interested readers to further reading.

Involving Patients in Research: Considering Good Practice

Increasingly, patients and members of the public are involved in the design, conduct and dissemination of research. INVOLVE, the UK’s national body for patient and public involvement, usefully defines this sort of involvement as: ‘research being carried out “with” or “by” members of the public rather than “to”, “about” or “for” them’ (INVOLVE, 2012). At the Musculoskeletal Research Unit in Bristol, we are often asked about our patient involvement work. In light of the questions that we are asked, this editorial highlights some current practice and guidance. We also reflect on the impact of our patient involvement activity and hope that this serves as a useful introduction and points interested readers to further reading.

Fifteen years experience of penile prosthesis insertion.

Introduction and Objectives: To review the outcome and patient satisfaction of penile prosthesis insertion over a 15 y period.Patients/Materials and Methods: We reviewed the notes of 172 patients who underwent penile prosthesis insertion between January 1980 and May 1995. From the notes information was determined on age of the patient, type of prosthesis, surgical approach and length of stay. Also noted were risk factors for erectile dysfunction and the aetiology. Twenty patients were known to have died or moved away. To assess the impact the operation had on quality of life, 152 questionnaires were sent of which 103 were returned (67%). The questionnaire gained information about sexual activity, before and after the operation and the overall satisfaction of the patient and his partner and whether they felt the operation was a success.Results: Overall 149 patients were known to have had malleable prostheses inserted and 23 had inflatables. The commonest organic groups were vascular disease, diabetes and Peyronies disease. Fifteen patients had two procedures. Four patients required revision of the prosthesis due to erosion, and there was one death due to pulmonary embolism. One hundred and three completed questionnaires have been returned to date the median time since operation was 4 y, the range being six months to 16 y and 78% thought the operation was a success.Conclusions: The insertion of malleable prostheses is associated with low complication rates, good patient satisfaction and improved quality of life for the couple. Concealment was not a major problem.

The incidence of cases of aphasia following first stroke referred to speech and language therapy services in Scotland

Background: Key to the provision of appropriate services is an understanding of the number of cases in a given population. This study examined the incidence of aphasia following first ever stroke. It was part of a larger study, the Aphasia in Scotland Study, which examined the provision of services for people with aphasia in Scotland. Aims: The present study examines the incidence of aphasia referred to speech and language therapy services in people who have experienced their first ever stroke. The specific questions addressed were: What is the incidence of aphasia following first ever stroke? What is the percentage of aphasia following first ever stroke? What are the crude figures for aphasia following first ever stroke by age? What are the crude figures for aphasia following first ever stroke by gender? What are the crude figures for aphasia following first ever stroke by severity? Methods & Procedures: All 14 health boards in Scotland were approached but only 3, NHS Borders, Orkney, and Shetland, were able to provide the level of information required. Respondents were asked to provide information about the age and gender and level of communication need of referred cases over a given year. Outcomes & Results: Results suggested that the incidence of aphasia following first ever stroke was found to be 54, 57, and 77.5 per 100,000, for NHS Borders, Orkney, and Shetland respectively. This is slightly higher than in other comparable studies. The percentage of new cases of aphasia following a first ever stroke across NHS Borders, Orkney, and Shetland was 19, 22, and 34% respectively. The variability across the three sites is probably a function of the potential effect of small changes in the relatively low numbers. The majority of cases were, unsurprisingly, over 65 years of age but a substantial minority—17% (Shetland), 26% (Borders) and 36% (Orkney)—were below 65 years of age. One third of new cases resulted in severe aphasia. Although the proportions of men and women with aphasia were similar, women tended to be older at the point at which they experienced their first stroke. Conclusions: The results are discussed in terms the practicalities of this sort of data collection exercise and the implications of the results for service delivery. There is a need for comparable local data collection exercises tied in to current epidemiological studies.

Designing a placebo device: involving service users in clinical trial design

Service users are increasingly involved in the design of clinical trials and in product and device development. Service user involvement in placebo development is crucial to a credible and acceptable placebo for clinical trials, but such involvement has not yet been reported.

Development of a complex intervention for people with chronic pain after knee replacement: the STAR care pathway

BackgroundApproximately 20% of people who have total knee replacement experience chronic pain afterwards, but there is little evidence about effective interventions for managing this type of pain. This article describes the systematic development and refinement of a complex intervention for people with chronic pain after knee replacement. The intervention is a care pathway involving an assessment clinic and onward referral, with telephone follow-up as required. In the design of this multistage study, we chose to focus on ensuring that the intervention was deliverable, implementable and acceptable.MethodsIn line with the UK Medical Research Council’s recommendations for comprehensive development of complex interventions, multiple phases of work were undertaken. Following on from initial development work to design the intervention, the draft intervention content was refined through consensus questionnaires with 22 health professionals and discussion at meetings with 18 healthcare professionals. Testing of intervention delivery and acceptability to patients was undertaken by two health professionals delivering the assessment clinic to ten patients. Views about future implementation within the context of a randomised trial were evaluated through a questionnaire based on the Normalisation Measure Development (NoMAD) instrument with ten health professional stakeholders.ResultsConsensus work with health professionals ensured the components of the intervention were appropriate and informed a number of substantive changes to improve the intervention. Testing of intervention delivery identified a number of logistical issues that were then addressed in the development of a comprehensive intervention training manual. Engagement with stakeholders indicated that the intervention could be successfully implemented in a clinical setting for evaluation in a randomised trial.ConclusionsThis work has informed the development and refinement of a complex intervention for people with chronic pain after knee replacement. The next stage is to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the STAR care pathway in a multicentre randomised trial.

Choice of implant combinations in total hip replacement: systematic review and network meta-analysis

Objective To compare the survival of different implant combinations for primary total hip replacement (THR). Design Systematic review and network meta-analysis. Data sources Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and the EU Clinical Trials Register. Review methods Published randomised controlled trials comparing different implant combinations. Implant combinations were defined by bearing surface materials (metal-on-polyethylene, ceramic-on-polyethylene, ceramic-on-ceramic, or metal-on-metal), head size (large ≥36 mm or small <36 mm), and fixation technique (cemented, uncemented, hybrid, or reverse hybrid). Our reference implant combination was metal-on-polyethylene (not highly cross linked), small head, and cemented. The primary outcome was revision surgery at 0-2 years and 2-10 years after primary THR. The secondary outcome was the Harris hip score reported by clinicians. Results 77 studies were included in the systematic review, and 15 studies (3177 hips) in the network meta-analysis for revision. There was no evidence that the risk of revision surgery was reduced by other implant combinations compared with the reference implant combination. Although estimates are imprecise, metal-on-metal, small head, cemented implants (hazard ratio 4.4, 95% credible interval 1.6 to 16.6) and resurfacing (12.1, 2.1 to 120.3) increase the risk of revision at 0-2 years after primary THR compared with the reference implant combination. Similar results were observed for the 2-10 years period. 31 studies (2888 patients) were included in the analysis of Harris hip score. No implant combination had a better score than the reference implant combination. Conclusions Newer implant combinations were not found to be better than the reference implant combination (metal-on-polyethylene (not highly cross linked), small head, cemented) in terms of risk of revision surgery or Harris hip score. Metal-on-metal, small head, cemented implants and resurfacing increased the risk of revision surgery compared with the reference implant combination. The results were consistent with observational evidence and were replicated in sensitivity analysis but were limited by poor reporting across studies. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42015019435.

Clinical and cost-effectiveness of the STAR care pathway compared to usual care for patients with chronic pain after total knee replacement: Study protocol for a UK randomised controlled trial

BackgroundApproximately 20% of patients experience chronic pain after total knee replacement. There is little evidence for effective interventions for the management of this pain, and current healthcare provision is patchy and inconsistent. Given the complexity of this condition, multimodal and individualised interventions matched to pain characteristics are needed. We have undertaken a comprehensive programme of work to develop a care pathway for patients with chronic pain after total knee replacement. This protocol describes the design of a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of a complex intervention care pathway compared with usual care.MethodsThis is a pragmatic two-armed, open, multi-centred randomised controlled trial conducted within secondary care in the UK. Patients will be screened at 2 months after total knee replacement and 381 patients with chronic pain at 3 months postoperatively will be recruited. Recruitment processes will be optimised through qualitative research during a 6-month internal pilot phase. Patients are randomised using a 2:1 intervention:control allocation ratio. All participants receive usual care as provided by their hospital. The intervention comprises an assessment clinic appointment at 3 months postoperatively with an Extended Scope Practitioner and up to six telephone follow-up calls over 12 months. In the assessment clinic, a standardised protocol is followed to identify potential underlying causes for the chronic pain and enable appropriate onward referrals to existing services for targeted and individualised treatment. Outcomes are assessed by questionnaires at 6 and 12 months after randomisation. The co-primary outcomes are pain severity and pain interference assessed using the Brief Pain Inventory at 12 months after randomisation. Secondary outcomes relate to resource use, function, neuropathic pain, mental well-being, use of pain medications, satisfaction with pain relief, pain frequency, capability, health-related quality of life and bodily pain. After trial completion, up to 30 patients in the intervention group will be interviewed about their experiences of the care pathway.DiscussionIf shown to be clinically and cost-effective, this care pathway intervention could improve the management of chronic pain after total knee replacement.Trial registrationISRCTN registry (ISRCTN92545361), prospectively registered on 30 August 2016.