Acute Respiratory Infection
Conditions
Keywords
General Practice, Social Marketing, Behavior Change, Antibiotic Prescribing
Brief summary
Antibiotic resistance has become a major threat to global public health. It is driven by a multitude of factors, however one of the leading factors is antibiotic prescribing. Inappropriate antibiotic use and overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics can lead to the development of resistant strains. Since in Malta the vast majority of antibiotics are acquired through prescription, targeting providers' prescribing behavior is an important strategy needed to try to curb antibiotic overuse and resistance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of a multifaceted social marketing intervention in changing general practitioners' (GPs) antibiotic prescribing behavior for patients with acute respiratory tract complaints in Malta. This quasi-experimental intervention study using an interrupted time series design includes three phases; a formative pre-intervention phase, an intervention phase and post-intervention evaluation phase, and will last a total of four years. During the pre-intervention phase, various stakeholders, including GPs, pharmacists and parents will be interviewed in order to get a better contextual understanding of antibiotic use in Malta. A 1-year baseline surveillance system will also be set up to collect actual diagnosis-specific antibiotic prescribing by GP. This data will, at a later stage, be used to measure the change in antibiotic prescribing behavior post-intervention stage. GPs stage of behavior change and intention to prescribe antibiotics will also be measure pre-intervention using questionnaires based on the theory of planned behavior and the transtheoretical model. The intervention stage will last 6 months and will include multiple components, including, delayed prescription pads, educational sessions, educational materials for patients and distribution of antibiotic guidelines. The intervention will be monitored closely through numerous process indicators. Following the intervention, GPs' stage of change and intention to prescribe antibiotics will be re-measured using the same questionnaire used pre-intervention. Surveillance data collection will be also be resumed and will provide data to measure the primary outcome as well as additional secondary outcomes. The primary outcome of interest is the change in the rate of antibiotic prescribing for patients presenting with an acute respiratory tract complaint.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALDelayed antibiotic prescription
Delayed antibiotic prescription pads will be disseminated to all participating general practitioners in both hard and soft copies.
BEHAVIORALAntibiotic prescribing guidelines
Antibiotic prescribing guidelines will be disseminated to all participating general practitioners in both hard and soft copies.
BEHAVIORALEducation
General practitioners will receive a package of educational sessions tailored towards their specific needs.
BEHAVIORALEducational materials
Educational materials for patients, namely posters and leaflets, will be disseminated to all participating general practitioners.
Sponsors
University of Malta
Karolinska Institutet
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* All actively practicing general practitioners and trainees specializing within family medicine are eligible to participate regardless of whether they work on a part-time or full-time basis, or in the public and/or private sectors
Exclusion criteria
* General practitioners who are no longer actively working
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The antibiotic prescribing rate for patients with acute respiratory tract complaints. | Three years | An interrupted time series design will allow us to measure the change in the antibiotic prescribing rate post-intervention compared with the pre-intervention phase through segmented regression analysis. Surveillance data will be collected pre- and post-intervention using a tool adapted from previous research. The tool will be piloted locally and checked for face validity. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The proportion of diagnosis-specific antibiotic prescription, specifically for the common cold, acute pharyngitis, acute sinusitis, acute bronchitis, acute tonsillitis, acute otitis media, pneumonia, allergy and influenza | Three years | The change in diagnosis-specific antibiotic prescribing rates post-intervention compared with the pre-intervention phase will be analysed using segmented regression. |
| The proportion of symptomatic relief medication prescribed | Three years | The change in the proportion of symptomatic relief medication prescribed post-intervention compared with the pre-intervention phase will be analysed. |
| The change in general practitioners' (GPs) stage-of-change | Three years | In order to be able to measure the change in GPs' stage of behavior change post-intervention, a questionnaire will be developed based on the transtheoretical model (or stage-of-change theory) and distributed to GPs pre- and post-intervention. The questionnaire will be informed by previous studies and adapted to the local context. |
| The change in general practitioners' (GPs) behavioral intention to prescribe antibiotics | Three years | In order to be able to measure the change in GPs' intention to prescribe antibiotics post-intervention, a questionnaire will be developed based on the theory of planned behavior and distributed to GPs pre- and post-intervention. The questionnaire will be informed by previous studies and adapted to the local context. |
Outcome results
None listed