Trials utilising educational interventions
| Study | Age group | Clinical group | No | Intervention | Control | Study period | Adherence measure | Key adherence findings | Delphi score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salleras Sanmarti et al21 | Children (mean age 6.5 years) | Tuberculosis prophylaxis | 318 | Group1: Education (verbal) via 3 monthly telephone call by specialist nurses | Usual treatment | 12 months | Urine testing for drug metabolite | Groups 1 (d=0.82*), 2 (d=1.08*), and 3 (d=0.46*) superior to control | 3 |
| Group 2: Education (written and verbal), via 3 monthly home visits by specialist nurses | Group 2 superior to group 3 (d=0.62*) | ||||||||
| Group 3: Education (written and verbal) via 3 monthly clinic visits with physician | |||||||||
| Hughes et al25 | Children and adolescents (6–16 years) | Asthma | 95 | Education: Specialist care and home visits (focusing on overall asthma management in addition to adherence) | Usual treatment (primary care) | 12 months | Medication diary | No significant group differences for adherence† | 3 |
| Intervention led to better asthma control (d=0.66*) | |||||||||
| Holzheimer et al31 | Children (2–5 years) | Asthma | 80 | Education: | Control book and control video | 3 months | Medication diary | No significant group differences† | 3 |
| Group 1. Asthma education book and video tape | |||||||||
| Group 2. Asthma video, control book | |||||||||
| Group 3. Asthma book, control video | |||||||||
| Jay et al30 | Adolescent girls (14–19 years) | Oral contraceptive | 57 | Education with peer counsellor (four sessions over 4 months) | Education with nurse | 4 months | Broad health behaviour scale | Intervention superior to control at 1 (d=0.57) and 2 months (d=0.24) | 4 |
| No significant group differences at 4 months (d=0.20) | |||||||||
| Farber et al37 | Children and adolescents (2–18 years) | Asthma | 56 | Education (single session, videos and discussion) | Usual treatment | 6 months | Dispensing frequency | Adherence was significantly higher in the intervention group compared to control for preventer medication† but not bronchodilators† | 6 |
| Intervention group had lower rates of corticosteroid undertreatment (d=0.75*) | |||||||||
| Berrien et al36 | Children and adolescents (1.5–20 years) | HIV | 37 | Education—home visits (intensive individualised nursing intervention—8 structured home visits over 3-month period focusing on education and resolving barriers to adherence) | Usual treatment+single home visit if required | 3 months | Self report questionnaire and dispensing frequency | Intervention superior to control for self-report questionnaire (d=0.66) and dispensing frequency† | 4 |
| Baum et al35 | Children and adolescents (6–16 years) | Asthma | 20 | Education (single session, 2 hours involving written information, video and discussion on disorder and management) and rewards for completion of forms. | Usual treatment | 3 months | Medication diary and blood testing for theophylline | No significant group differences† | 1 |