None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Unfortunately, many people will experience knee osteoarthritis at some point in their life. This can be diagnosed by a General Practitioner (GP) or other health professional, and there are different ways this may be done. People often have beliefs about treatments for, and the prognosis of, their knee osteoarthritis. Currently, we do not know whether the way someone is diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis makes any difference to their beliefs about treatment or prognosis. This study is interested in learning more about whether the way people are diagnosed with knee osteoarthrtitis changes their beliefs about the condition. We hypothesise that a diagnosis and explanation without x-ray will reduce beliefs that surgery is necessary and increase beliefs that exercise is helpful, compared to a diagnosis and explanation based on x-ray.
Interventions
The entire trial will be administered in one single online survey.
Eligible participants will be asked to imagine a hypothetical scenario where they have made an appointment with a General Practitioner (GP) to find out what is wrong with their painful knee. Participants will then be automatically randomised into one of three groups, all of which will be asked to watch a pre-recorded video on their screen where they receive a hypothetical knee osteoarthritis (OA) diagnosis from their GP.
The th
The entire trial will be administered in one single online survey. Eligible participants will be asked to imagine a hypothetical scenario where they have made an appointment with a General Practitioner (GP) to find out what is wrong with their painful knee. Participants will then be automatically randomised into one of three groups, all of which will be asked to watch a pre-recorded video on their screen where they receive a hypothetical knee osteoarthritis (OA) diagnosis from their GP. The three groups will be: i) Clinical diagnosis and explanation without being sent for x-ray: the video will show the GP providing a clinical diagnosis of knee OA based on their age and symptoms, including an explanation of why x-rays are not necessary for OA diagnosis. The GP will then explain what OA is. This will include the how it is diagnosed, basic pathogenesis, natural history and treatment options. ii) Diagnosis and explanation based on x-ray findings (but without showing the x-ray images): the video will show the GP ordering an x-ray for the participant, summarising the x-ray report (but not showing the participant the x-ray images), and providing a diagnosis of knee OA. The GP will then explain what OA is. This will include the how it is diagnosed, basic pathogenesis, natural history and treatment options. iii) Diagnosis and explanation based on x-ray (and showing the x-ray images): the video will show the GP ordering an x-ray for the participant, then summarising the x-ray report and Showing them the x-ray images, and providing a diagnosis of knee OA. The GP will then explain what OA is. This will include the how it is diagnosed, basic pathogenesis, natural history and treatment options. The video for all groups will be scripted in a way that intends to reflect what typical language and communication style may look like in a real-world general practice setting. The video in each group is anticipated to last for 2-3 minutes. With regards to fidelity, we will collect data on whether watched allocated video or not time spent watching video.
Sponsors
The University of Melbourne
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Diagnosis
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
45 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participants will be eligible for the study if they meet the following inclusion criteria: i) Adults aged 45 years or over; ii) Currently living in Australia; iii) Either have, and have not, experienced activity-related knee joint pain in the last 3 months; and iv) Have never consulted a healthcare professional for chronic knee pain. Note: We will recruit a sample of 50% who have knee pain, and 50% who do not have knee pain.
Exclusion criteria
Inability to understand or read English
Outcome results
None listed