Engaging dental professionals in research – overcoming barriers to recruitment in primary dental care.

PI Title: Wendy Thompson

Lead member: Manchester

What is aim of this study? To understand how to get dental teams involved in research about dental care across England.

Why is this our aim? It is important that we can do research in dental practices. This is so we can see what treatments work in different patient groups. It is hard to get dental teams involved in research, but we do not know why. If we can find out what helps and what stops dental teams getting involved, we can suggest new ways of working.

What will we do? In stage one, we will talk to dental teams, researchers, and funders to find out what helps dental teams take part in research. We will include what we find in an online survey, where dental teams will tell us what is important to them.

In stage two, we will run workshops for dental team members, managers, researchers, and patients. The first workshop will look at what we have learned from stage one in more detail. The second workshop will develop ways to get dental teams involved in research using behavioural science tools. 

How will the patient perspective be included? It is important that our work reflects what matters to patients. Two dental patients have helped us to design this research. They will act as members of our study advisory group during the study. They will also help us to understand the findings of our workshops. Their views will help us to figure out what may work best in diverse groups across England.

We will also use the Vocal Group at the University of Manchester and Manchester NHS Foundation Trust to form a diverse patient advisory group. This group will be asked to provide comments on our work through the study.

How will we share our results?  Everyone involved with the research will get involved in sharing our results. We will use social media, research festivals and patient events to share our findings with the public. Our patient and public team members will help to make sure that our results are shared in plain English. We will also share our results in scientific journals and conferences so dental teams can see our work. Finally, we will share our results with professional groups and decision makers for the NHS.

What next?  Our next study will test whether our new solutions for recruiting dental teams work in practice. This may also include research into improving patient recruitment for studies.

Amount awarded:  £148,504