Abstract
Background Defining ‘usual care’ in studies of health services is challenging as it comprises a large variety of locally variable services. Building Blocks is trialling the Family Nurse Partnership Programme (FNP) in England. FNP is a complex intervention provided to first-time teenage mothers in the community setting. It was developed and previously trialled in the USA where support services are very different. To fully interpret trial results, particularly when making international comparisons, insight into the control condition is essential.
Highlights
Defining ‘usual care’ in studies of health services is challenging as it comprises a large variety of locally variable services
Family Nurse Partnership Programme (FNP) is a complex intervention provided to first-time teenage mothers in the community setting
We used a mixed methods approach to ‘map’ services provided to teenage mothers in our 18 trial sites
Summary
Defining ‘usual care’ in studies of health services is challenging as it comprises a large variety of locally variable services. Building Blocks is trialling the Family Nurse Partnership Programme (FNP) in England. FNP is a complex intervention provided to first-time teenage mothers in the community setting. It was developed and previously trialled in the USA where support services are very different. To fully interpret trial results, when making international comparisons, insight into the control condition is essential. Provided global insight into within-site variations and changes over time. Practical limitations prevented exploring details of uptake and local criteria for entitlement. Published: 29 November 2013 doi:10.1186/1745-6215-14-S1-P7 Cite this article as: Sanders et al.: Defining ‘usual care’ in trials of complex interventions.
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