BOOST animation
The BOOST Project will develop methods to improve the design and conduct of clinical trials.
It will look at how people's behaviours can affect the trial’s success.
Clinical trials often involve giving people tasks for example Doctors inviting patients to take part in a trial, or delivering a new treatment.
Or patients taking a particular treatment or filling in a questionnaire.
How well people do these tasks can affect the success of the trial.
If tasks are not done well the trial might not work as planned.
This can waste money, and the time and effort of everyone involved.
These tasks are called behaviours because they all involve doing something.
At every stage of a trial, from set up to delivery there are a range of peoples behaviours that can be identified and improved.
This research programme will use behavioural science to improve clinical trials.
The research has three phases.
The first phase will detail the key steps involved in delivering a clinical trial and identify which of these include lots of behaviours and should be a priority area for research.
During this first phase we will look for existing research to see if others have analysed problems in trials using this behavioural perspective.
In the second phase we will work with clinical trials that are about to, or have recently, started.
We will develop methods to identify key behaviours in trials, that are targets for change, for example people not returning a questionnaire.
To understand what drives these behaviours we will use tools like surveys and interviews.
In the final phase, we will develop research tools to help clinical trial teams identify behaviours and make improvements in their own trials.
These tools will include easy-to-follow guides that explain how and when to use them.
The tools will be free for everyone to use.
To help people around the world use this approach the team will set up a network of researchers.
Through this network people will be able to learn, share ideas, and work together to improve clinical trials.
