PROMoting THE USE of SWATs (PROMETHEUS)

• Surgical - 11 SWATs
• Respiratory, smoking cessation, Oncology, Fall reduction, Orthopaedic, Wound care - 3 SWATs in each area.
• Community Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Primary care (Signs and symptoms), Rheumatology, Urology - 2 SWATs in each area
• Oral health, Gastrointestinal, and Gynaecology - 1 SWAT in each area.

• 42 SWATs were funded.
• Outputs include SWAT result publications, papers on learnings from the program, and a comprehensive HTA report.
• A database of reviewers for SWAT publications was developed to increase the pool of reviewers and speed up the reviewing process.
• This programme collaborated with Trial Forge to create the ‘Trial Forge SWAT Network’ as a network that would aid in linking research groups globally that are undertaking methodological (SWAT) research.

Three papers have been published in the Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences Journal describing the learning derived from this programme:

• (Arundel et al., 2023) - Challenges and solutions to the implementation of studies within a trial: The experiences of the PROMETHEUS programme
• (Clark et al., 2022) - The PROMoting the USE of SWATs (PROMETHEUS) programme: Lessons learnt and future developments for SWATs.
• (Doherty et al., 2022) - PROMoting the use of studies within a trial (PROMETHEUS): Results and experiences from a large programme to evaluate the routine embedding of recruitment and retention strategies within randomised controlled trials routinely.
• With a comprehensive HTA report in the process of being disseminated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efhFj0Rxc8U

This webinar gives an overview of both the PROMETHEUS programme and the Trial Forge and describes their collaboration and efforts to promote SWATs and SWAT knowledge.

This webinar gives an overview of how SWATs have been implemented and managed in various Trials units in the UK and Ireland with experiences from the teams at:

• Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit
• York Trials Unit
• Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit
• Centre for Healthcare Randomised Trials
• HRB-TMRN
• Derby Clinical Trials Support Unit (CTSU)
• Pragmatic Clinical Trials Unit - Queen Mary University of London

Webinar

This webinar gives an overview on guidance on how to go about answering questions such as “Where do we need to replicate SWATs?” and “Where do we need to innovate SWATs?”. It also discusses guidance on implementing two SWATs (assessing personalised SMS for retention and pens for recruitment) and who to turn to if support is required to undertake a SWAT.

Webinar

This webinar was presented by PROMETHEUS programme collaborators and included the experiences of undertaking SWATs in low and middle-income countries and the use of digital tools for recruitment and retention. The newly established Trial Forge SWAT Network was also outlined.

This webinar presented the results of a simultaneous SWAT evaluating Christmas Cards as a retention strategy. The logistics of setting up this simultaneous SWAT and the processes involved were also detailed. The results of this SWAT are available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-067742

This webinar introduced cost-effectiveness analyses in SWATs. The current evidence base was summarised, with findings presented from a recent systematic review of economic evaluations alongside SWATs for improving recruitment and retention in RCTs.