Stakeholder Engagement for a Multinational, Multisite Clinical Trial
Research Project Summary
Stakeholder Engagement for a Multinational, Multisite Clinical Trial
Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) is a common and potentially life-threatening toxicity of radiotherapy (RT) for patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). At least half of HNC patients require feeding tubes during radiation. However, it is unclear how and at what point to implement swallowing therapy to best help HNC patients to regain swallowing function. This multi-national, multi-site pragmatic clinical trial comparatively tests three approaches to swallowing therapy in the HNC population.
QHRC Role
Stakeholders convene at multiple points over the life of the trial to discuss, deliberate, and advise on an array of protocol design, recruitment and data analysis questions crucial to the success of this complex pragmatic clinical trial. QHRC designed the stakeholder engagement model in the grant proposal, convenes all stakeholders in the US context, and represents stakeholder engagement on the trial executive committee.
Kate Hutcheson, PhD, CCC-SLP
“The one pleasant surprise is how seriously [our stakeholders] take it. They take their role really seriously.”
Client Team
Collaborators
Kate Hutcheson, PhD, CCC-SLP
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Rosemary Martino, PhD, MSc
University of Toronto
Funder
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
Overview of Qualitative Research Performed
Official Project Title
PRO-ACTIVE: Prophylactic Swallow Intervention for Patients Receiving Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer (PRO-ACTIVE)