Your perceptions and experiences of taking dual and triple combination therapy for your HIV are unique to you. We are looking for patients currently on dual or triple therapy treatment combinations to tell us about your treatment experiences in a safe and confidential way.
We would like to learn about your perceptions and experiences, and share this information with your doctors, your community support networks, and pharmaceutical companies, to improve your treatment and care.
There are no correct answers to the questions we may ask. It is your personal experience that is important.
There are three sessions, that we will be conducting at different times.
The first session would be a simple exercise.
The second session, which will take place a few months later, will be a focus group discussion.
The final session will be a 1 to 1 interview.
The PEDAL study was designed just as COVID-19 arrived, and the study was designed to be held completely online.
However, if you prefer to get involved in person, then we are able to arrange this.
Either way, we will aim to interview you at a time convenient for you, and you can tell us about your treatment experiences in a safe and confidential way.
Either online or in person, we will ask you to tell us some of the things that come to mind when you consider your antiretroviral therapy. You will be asked to sort your experiences into categories and rank them in an order you choose. Your thoughts and experiences are unique to you, there are no ‘wrong answers’.
Sharing information and feedback is often productive in a group setting. We will hold focus group discussions, either online or, if guidelines permit, in a safe and confidential setting indoors. The focus groups will take place with two researchers and 6-10 other patients.
We will follow COVID guidelines and will ask some simple questions online, at a time most convenient for you, and perhaps, depending on your preference, some optional face to face interviews and focus groups.
Email our research team using the emails listed below, (click this link)
In this research study we will use information from you. The information you give us will be used anonymously for this study and in published reports. We will only use information that we need for the research study. We will let very few people know your name or contact details, and only if they really need it for this study. Everyone involved in this study will keep your data safe and secure. We will also follow all privacy rules. At the end of the study we will save some of the data in case we need to check it. We will make sure no-one can work out who you are from the reports we write. The information pack tells you more about this.
No. It’s up to you. If you do decide to take part please inform your consulting doctor or nurse or the research team listed below, and someone from the research team will contact you to give you more information.
Participants will be offered up to £30 in vouchers to compensate for their time. They will receive £10 for participation in one method; £20 for participation in two methods; and £30 for participation in all three methods. Additionally, those based in Brighton and Hove will be reimbursed for travel costs.
Contact your clinician/Doctor at the Lawson Unit, or you may email the study researchers listed below;
(Click on the links below their names to email them)
Dr. Giovanni Villa
or
Dr. Diego Garcia
If you would like to speak to a person who is living with HIV, we have a patient representative
David Fray
The PEDAL Study team is made of four key individuals, supported by the doctors and nurses from the Lawson Unit and the staff at the Clinical Research Facility. Our core group includes Dr Giovanni Villa, Dr Caroline Ackley, Dr Diego Garcia, and David Fray,
Click their names, or photos below to see more about them
Dr. Giovanni Villa, Dr. Amanda Clarke Dr. Diego Garcia, Dr. Caroline Ackley, and David Fray (Patient rep)
This research is funded by ViiV Healthcare.
To learn more about Viiv, please click this link
The PEDAL Study is part of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and University Hospitals Sussex
Dr Amanda Clarke
Dr Clarke (Mindy) has worked in Genitourinary Medicine since 2001. Her work has been focused more in clinical research since 2010, firstly at HIV-NAT (the HIV Netherlands, Australia Thailand Research Collaboration) in Bangkok and subsequently running the clinical trials unit within the Department of HIV, Sexual Health and Contraception at Royal Sussex County hospital, Brighton, since 2012. Her over 85 peer reviewed publications include topics such as new HIV treatments, different treatment strategies, HIV prevention & transmission, drug toxicity and sexual health. Other interests include how to ensure research reaches all who want it, medical education, teaching and Sustainable Healthcare.
David has been living with HIV since 1993. As such, he has experience of taking combination therapy. David has been a volunteer for various HIV organisations such as The Sussex AIDS Centre, THT, Outdoor Positive, The Sussex Beacon, and Peer Action