ArticleGlobal health action2015
Behind the scenes of the PRIME intervention: designing a complex intervention to improve malaria care at public health centres in Uganda.
Article in Global health action, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of interventions addressing limited health literacy to improve asthma self-management.Journal of global health · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- The Impact of an Intervention to Improve Malaria Care in Public Health Centers on Health Indicators of Children in Tororo, Uganda (PRIME): A Cluster-Randomized Trial.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2016Trial
- Designing a Self-Guided Digital Intervention for Self-Management of Shoulder Pain in People Living With Spinal Cord Injury: Tutorial on Using a Person-Based Approach.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Trajectories of re-engagement: factors and mechanisms enabling patient return to HIV care in Zambia.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2023Article
- Improving child health service interventions through a Theory of Change: A scoping review.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Article
- The Community Lab of Ideas for Health: Community-Based Transdisciplinary Solutions in a Malaria Elimination Trial in The Gambia.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- A Review of Differentiated Service Delivery for HIV Treatment: Effectiveness, Mechanisms, Targeting, and Scale.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2019Review
- Observe Before You Leap: Why Observation Provides Critical Insights for Formative Research and Intervention Design That You'll Never Get From Focus Groups, Interviews, or KAP Surveys.Global health, science and practice · 2018Article
- Treatment-seeking behaviour in low- and middle-income countries estimated using a Bayesian model.BMC medical research methodology · 2017Article
- Impact of introduction of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria on antibiotic prescribing: analysis of observational and randomised studies in public and private healthcare settings.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2017Article
- Article
- Examining Intervention Design: Lessons from the Development of Eight Related Malaria Health Care Intervention Studies.Health systems and reform · 2016Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Uganda, health system challenges limit access to good quality healthcare and contribute to slow progress on malaria control. We developed a complex intervention (PRIME), which was designed to improve quality of care for malaria at public health centres.
objectiveResponding to calls for increased transparency, we describe the PRIME intervention's design process, rationale, and final content and reflect on the choices and challenges encountered during the design of this complex intervention.
designTo develop the intervention, we followed a multistep approach, including the following: 1) formative research to identify intervention target areas and objectives; 2) prioritization of intervention components; 3) review of relevant evidence; 4) development of intervention components; 5) piloting and refinement of workshop modules; and 6) consolidation of the PRIME intervention theories of change to articulate why and how the intervention was hypothesized to produce desired outcomes. We aimed to develop an intervention that was evidence-based, grounded in theory, and appropriate for the study context; could be evaluated within a randomized controlled trial; and had the potential to be scaled up sustainably.
resultsThe process of developing the PRIME intervention package was lengthy and dynamic. The final intervention package consisted of four components: 1) training in fever case management and use of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria (mRDTs); 2) workshops in health centre management; 3) workshops in patient-centred services; and 4) provision of mRDTs and antimalarials when stocks ran low.
conclusionsThe slow and iterative process of intervention design contrasted with the continually shifting study context. We highlight the considerations and choices made at each design stage, discussing elements we included and why, as well as those that were ultimately excluded. Reflection on and reporting of 'behind the scenes' accounts of intervention design may improve the design, assessment, and generalizability of complex interventions and their evaluations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.