Evaluation of a practice-based research design using an asthma care model

Abstract

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.