Developing a best practice framework for musculoskeletal outpatient physiotherapy delegation: the MOPeD mixed-methods research study protocol (2023)
Journal Article
Sarigiovannis, P., Foster, N. E., Jowett, S., & Saunders, B. (2023). Developing a best practice framework for musculoskeletal outpatient physiotherapy delegation: the MOPeD mixed-methods research study protocol. BMJ Open, 13(3), Article e072989. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-072989

Introduction:
Physiotherapy assistants/support workers are an important part of the physiotherapy workforce in the UK. Many of them work in National Health Service (NHS) physiotherapy outpatient services treating patients with musculoskeletal (MSK)... Read More about Developing a best practice framework for musculoskeletal outpatient physiotherapy delegation: the MOPeD mixed-methods research study protocol.

Symptom patterns and life with post-acute COVID-19 in children aged 8-17: a mixed methods studyprotocol. (2023)
Journal Article
Faux-Nightingale, A., Burton, C., Twohig, H., Bucknall, M., Carroll, W., Chew-Graham, C., …Welsh, V. (2023). Symptom patterns and life with post-acute COVID-19 in children aged 8-17: a mixed methods studyprotocol. British Journal of General Practice Open (BJGP Open), 7(2), Article BJGPO20220149. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgpo.2022.0149

Background: While there is a substantial body of knowledge about acute COVID-19, less is known about long-COVID, where symptoms continue beyond 4 weeks.

Aim: To describe longer-term effects of COVID-19 infection in children and young people (CYP)... Read More about Symptom patterns and life with post-acute COVID-19 in children aged 8-17: a mixed methods studyprotocol..

The functions of self-harm in young people and their perspectives about future general practitioner-led care: A qualitative study. (2023)
Journal Article
Mughal, F., Chew-Graham, C., Babatunde, O., Saunders, B., Meki, A., & Dikomitis, L. (2023). The functions of self-harm in young people and their perspectives about future general practitioner-led care: A qualitative study. Health Expectations, 26(3), 1180-1188. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.13733

BACKGROUND: Self-harm in young people is a serious concern but a deeper understanding of the functions of self-harm in young people can tailor care and inform new clinical interventions to reduce repeat self-harm and suicide risk. General practitione... Read More about The functions of self-harm in young people and their perspectives about future general practitioner-led care: A qualitative study..

Diagnostic delay in adult inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review (2023)
Journal Article
Cross, E., Saunders, B., Farmer, A., & Prior, J. (2023). Diagnostic delay in adult inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review. Indian Journal of Gastroenterology, 42, 40-52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12664-022-01303-x

BACKGROUND: The extent of diagnostic delay in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is incompletely understood. We aimed to understand the extent of diagnostic delay of IBD in adults and identify associations between patient or healthcare characteristics... Read More about Diagnostic delay in adult inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review.

Patients' and clinicians' perspectives towards primary care consultations for shoulder pain: qualitative findings from the Prognostic and Diagnostic Assessment of the Shoulder (PANDA-S) programme. (2023)
Journal Article
Saunders, B., Burton, C., van der Windt, D. A., Myers, H., Chester, R., Pincus, T., & Wynne-Jones, G. (2023). Patients' and clinicians' perspectives towards primary care consultations for shoulder pain: qualitative findings from the Prognostic and Diagnostic Assessment of the Shoulder (PANDA-S) programme. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 24, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-022-06059-1

BACKGROUND: Clinical management of musculoskeletal shoulder pain can be challenging due to diagnostic uncertainty, variable prognosis and limited evidence for long-term treatment benefits. The UK-based PANDA-S programme (Prognostic And Diagnostic Ass... Read More about Patients' and clinicians' perspectives towards primary care consultations for shoulder pain: qualitative findings from the Prognostic and Diagnostic Assessment of the Shoulder (PANDA-S) programme..

Delegation of workload from musculoskeletal physiotherapists to physiotherapy assistants/support workers: A UK online survey. (2022)
Journal Article
Sarigiovannis, P., Foster, N., Jowett, S., & Saunders, B. (2022). Delegation of workload from musculoskeletal physiotherapists to physiotherapy assistants/support workers: A UK online survey. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 62, Article 102631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msksp.2022.102631

PURPOSE: There are approximately 9000 physiotherapy assistants/support workers in the UK. Many of them work in NHS physiotherapy outpatient services treating patients with musculoskeletal conditions, but their role(s) are relatively undefined and as... Read More about Delegation of workload from musculoskeletal physiotherapists to physiotherapy assistants/support workers: A UK online survey..

Diagnostic Delay in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review (2022)
Journal Article
Matoi, S., Hay, C., Baines, L., Saunders, B., Farmer, A., Cross, E., …Prior, J. (2022). Diagnostic Delay in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review. Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 67, 5444–5454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-022-07452-5

Introduction Delays in diagnosing pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are common, but the extent of this delay remains unclear due to variations in reported time-periods between studies. The objectives of this systematic review were to examine... Read More about Diagnostic Delay in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review.

Clinical and cost-effectiveness and perceptions of delegation by Allied Health Professionals to Allied Health Assistants: A mixed methods systematic review (2021)
Journal Article
Sarigiovannis, P., Jowett, S., Saunders, B., Corp, N., & Bishop, A. (2021). Clinical and cost-effectiveness and perceptions of delegation by Allied Health Professionals to Allied Health Assistants: A mixed methods systematic review. Physiotherapy (de Gruyter), 113(S1), e119 - e120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2021.10.104

First Contact Practitioners' (FCPs) and General Practitioners' Perceptions Towards FCPs Delivering Vocational Advice to Patients with Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Qualitative Investigation of the Implementation Potential of the I-SWAP Initiative. (2021)
Journal Article
Saunders, B., Foster, N. E., Hill, J. C., Sowden, G., Evans, N., Bishop, A., …Wynne-Jones, G. (2022). First Contact Practitioners' (FCPs) and General Practitioners' Perceptions Towards FCPs Delivering Vocational Advice to Patients with Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Qualitative Investigation of the Implementation Potential of the I-SWAP Initiative. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 32, 147–155. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-021-09992-5

Purpose Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is a common cause of work absence. The recent SWAP (Study of Work And Pain) randomised controlled trial (RCT) found that a brief vocational advice service for primary care patients with MSK pain led to fewer days' w... Read More about First Contact Practitioners' (FCPs) and General Practitioners' Perceptions Towards FCPs Delivering Vocational Advice to Patients with Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Qualitative Investigation of the Implementation Potential of the I-SWAP Initiative..

Patients' Views on the Implementation Potential of a Stratified Treatment Approach for Low Back Pain in Germany: A Qualitative Study. (2020)
Journal Article
Karstens, S., Lang, S., & Saunders, B. (2020). Patients' Views on the Implementation Potential of a Stratified Treatment Approach for Low Back Pain in Germany: A Qualitative Study. Health Services Insights, 13, https://doi.org/10.1177/1178632920977894

Stratified care for low back pain (LBP) has been shown to be clinically- and cost-effective in the UK, but its transferability to the German healthcare system is unknown. This study explores LBP patients' perspectives regarding future implementation... Read More about Patients' Views on the Implementation Potential of a Stratified Treatment Approach for Low Back Pain in Germany: A Qualitative Study..

Patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives on a ‘fast-track’ pathway for patients with sciatica in primary care: qualitative findings from the SCOPiC stratified care trial (2020)
Journal Article
Saunders, B., Konstantinou, K., Artus, M., E Foster, N., & Bartlam, B. (2020). Patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives on a ‘fast-track’ pathway for patients with sciatica in primary care: qualitative findings from the SCOPiC stratified care trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 21, Article 469. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-020-03483-z

Background
Sciatica is common and associated with significant impacts for the individual and society. The SCOPiC randomised controlled trial (RCT) (trial registration: ISRCTN75449581) tested stratified primary care for sciatica by subgrouping patien... Read More about Patients’ and clinicians’ perspectives on a ‘fast-track’ pathway for patients with sciatica in primary care: qualitative findings from the SCOPiC stratified care trial.

Stratified versus usual care for the management of primary care patients with sciatica: the SCOPiC RCT (2020)
Journal Article
Foster, N. E., Konstantinou, K., Lewis, M., Ogollah, R., Saunders, B., Kigozi, J., …Dunn, K. M. (2020). Stratified versus usual care for the management of primary care patients with sciatica: the SCOPiC RCT. Health Technology Assessment, 2(7), e401-e411. https://doi.org/10.3310/hta24490

BACKGROUND: Sciatica has a substantial impact on patients and society. Current care is 'stepped', comprising an initial period of simple measures of advice and analgesia, for most patients, commonly followed by physiotherapy, and then by more intensi... Read More about Stratified versus usual care for the management of primary care patients with sciatica: the SCOPiC RCT.

Stratified care versus usual care for management of patients presenting with sciatica in primary care (SCOPiC): a randomised controlled trial (2020)
Journal Article
Konstantinou, K., Lewis, M., Dunn, K., Hay, E., Van Der Windt, D., Artus, M., …Foster, N. (2020). Stratified care versus usual care for management of patients presenting with sciatica in primary care (SCOPiC): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Rheumatology, 2(7), e401-e411. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913%2820%2930099-0

Background
Sciatica has a substantial impact on individuals and society. Stratified care has been shown to lead to better outcomes among patients with non-specific low back pain, but it has not been tested for sciatica. We aimed to investigate the c... Read More about Stratified care versus usual care for management of patients presenting with sciatica in primary care (SCOPiC): a randomised controlled trial.

Stratified primary care versus non-stratified care for musculoskeletal pain: findings from the STarT MSK feasibility and pilot cluster randomized controlled trial (2020)
Journal Article
Hill, J., Garvin, S., Chen, Y., Cooper, V., Wathall, S., Saunders, B., …Foster, N. E. (2020). Stratified primary care versus non-stratified care for musculoskeletal pain: findings from the STarT MSK feasibility and pilot cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Family Practice, 21, Article 30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-019-1074-9

Background: Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain from the five most common presentations to primary care (back, neck, shoulder, knee or multi-site pain), where the majority of patients are managed, is a costly global health challenge. At present, first-line de... Read More about Stratified primary care versus non-stratified care for musculoskeletal pain: findings from the STarT MSK feasibility and pilot cluster randomized controlled trial.

The sample size debate: response to Norman Blaikie (2018)
Journal Article
Sim, J., Saunders, B., Waterfield, J., & Kingstone, T. (2018). The sample size debate: response to Norman Blaikie. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 21(5), https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2018.1454642

In his detailed response to our paper on sample size in qualitative research, Norman Blaikie raises important issues concerning conceptual definitions and taxonomy. In particular, he points out the problems associated with a loose, generic applicatio... Read More about The sample size debate: response to Norman Blaikie.

Can sample size in qualitative research be determined a priori? (2018)
Journal Article
Sim, J., Saunders, B., Waterfield, J., & Kingstone, T. (2018). Can sample size in qualitative research be determined a priori?. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 5, https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2018.1454643

There has been considerable recent interest in methods of determining sample size for qualitative research a priori, rather than through an adaptive approach such as saturation. Extending previous literature in this area, we identify four distinct ap... Read More about Can sample size in qualitative research be determined a priori?.

Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization (2017)
Journal Article
Saunders, B., Sim, J., Kingstone, T., Baker, S., Waterfield, J., Bartlam, B., …Jinks, C. (2018). Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization. Quality and Quantity, 52, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0574-8

Saturation has attained widespread acceptance as a methodological principle in qualitative research. It is commonly taken to indicate that, on the basis of the data that have been collected or analysed hitherto, further data collection and/or analysi... Read More about Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization.

The clinical and cost-effectiveness of stratified care for patients with sciatica: the SCOPiC randomised controlled trial protocol (ISRCTN75449581). (2017)
Journal Article
Foster, N. E., Konstantinou, K., Lewis, M., Ogollah, R., Dunn, K. M., van der Windt, D., …Hay, E. M. (2017). The clinical and cost-effectiveness of stratified care for patients with sciatica: the SCOPiC randomised controlled trial protocol (ISRCTN75449581). BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 18, Article 172. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-017-1513-5

BACKGROUND: Sciatica has a substantial impact on patients, and is associated with high healthcare and societal costs. Although there is variation in the clinical management of sciatica, the current model of care usually involves an initial period of... Read More about The clinical and cost-effectiveness of stratified care for patients with sciatica: the SCOPiC randomised controlled trial protocol (ISRCTN75449581)..

General Practitioners' and patients' perceptions towards stratified care: a theory informed investigation (2016)
Journal Article
Saunders, B., Bartlam, B., Foster, N. E., Hill, J. C., Cooper, V., & Protheroe, J. (2016). General Practitioners' and patients' perceptions towards stratified care: a theory informed investigation. BMC Family Practice, 17, Article 125. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-016-0511-2

Background
Stratified primary care involves changing General Practitioners’ (GPs) clinical behaviour in treating patients, away from the current stepped care approach to instead identifying early treatment options that are matched to patients’ risk... Read More about General Practitioners' and patients' perceptions towards stratified care: a theory informed investigation.

Participant Anonymity in the Internet Age: From Theory to Practice. (2015)
Journal Article
Saunders, B., Kitzinger, J., & Kitzinger, C. (2015). Participant Anonymity in the Internet Age: From Theory to Practice. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 12(2), 125 - 137. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2014.948697

Qualitative researchers attempting to protect the identities of their research participants now face a multitude of new challenges due to the wealth of information once considered private but now readily accessible online. We will draw on our researc... Read More about Participant Anonymity in the Internet Age: From Theory to Practice..