Introduction
The aim of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme is to ensure that high quality research information on the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests are produced in the most efficient way for those who plan, provide or receive care from NHS and social care services. The commissioned workstream invites applications in response to calls for research on specific questions which have been identified and prioritised for their importance to the NHS, patients and social care.
Research question
What is the clinical and cost-effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions and strategies for the management of fatigue in people with long-term physical and/or mental health conditions?
- Intervention: Non-pharmacological fatigue management interventions and strategies.
- Patient group: Adults with one or with multiple long-term physical and/or mental health conditions.
(The following conditions are covered elsewhere - cancer, long-COVID, post-viral fatigue, medically not yet explained conditions, acute conditions resulting from accidents or injuries, and developmental disorders). - Setting: Any setting.
- Study design: Evidence synthesis through a comprehensive review of the available evidence, including quantitative, qualitative and other relevant research. Applicants should suggest and justify the most appropriate methods for the evidence synthesis.
- Important outcomes: A synthesis of the existing evidence and recommendations for the design of future research.
- Other outcomes and outputs to consider: Facilitators and barriers to uptake of interventions; fatigue and other health-related quality of life measures; healthcare resource use; identification of promising interventions and components of interventions that could be tested further; recommendations for possible future primary research (including questions focused on under-researched populations). Applicants should consider whether a cost effectiveness evaluation would be contributory. Meta-analysis and subgroup analyses should be undertaken as appropriate. Existing Core Outcomes should be included amongst the list of outcomes unless a good rationale is provided to do otherwise. Applicants are encouraged to report recruitment and findings disaggregated by sex (and other demographic factors where relevant).
Rationale
An estimated 15 million people in England are living with at least one long-term physical health condition. A similar number of people is thought to have long-term mental health conditions, often in combination with physical health problems Many of these experience fatigue, a common and potentially debilitating symptom associated with long-term health conditions.
While fatigue management is developed in some diseases, most clinical guidelines for long-term physical health conditions do not include evidence-based guidance for managing fatigue. There is evidence of benefit from some non-pharmacological interventions, such as physical activity and cognitive approaches in some conditions, but effectiveness is variable. Recent research has usually been disease specific. Consequently, it is not known whether currently available fatigue management interventions are beneficial to specific conditions only, or whether there are key elements of fatigue management that are effective across long-term conditions or subgroups of conditions. To date, no research has looked across conditions to summarise the best available evidence on managing fatigue in this patient group.
The HTA Programme wishes to fund the study outlined above to synthesise the available evidence across long-term physical and mental health conditions, and to inform clinical practice, patient choice, and future guidelines.
Additional commissioning brief background information
A background document is available that provides further information to support applicants for this call. It is intended to summarise what prompted the call and the existing evidence base, including relevant work from the HTA Programme and wider NIHR research portfolio. It was researched and written on the basis of information from a search of relevant sources and databases, and in consultation with a number of experts in the field. If you would like a copy please email htaresearchers@nihr.ac.uk.
Making an application
If you wish to submit a Stage 1 application for this call, the online application form can be found on the Funding opportunities page. To select this call, use the filters on the right of the screen or search using the call name and/or number.
Your application must be submitted online no later than 1pm on the 21 September 2022. Applications will be considered by the HTA Funding Committee at its meeting in November 2022.
Guidance notes and supporting information for HTA Programme applications are available.
Important: Shortlisted Stage 1 applicants will be given eight weeks to submit a Stage 2 application. The Stage 2 application will be considered at the Funding Committee in March 2023.
Applications received electronically after 13:00 hours on the due date will not be considered.
For commissioned topics, the Programme strongly discourages the practice of the same co-applicant joining more than one competing team. There may be unusual circumstances where the same person could be included on more than on application e.g. a lead from a named charity or a unique national expert in a condition.
For such exceptions (i) each application needs to state the case as to why the same person is included (ii) the shared co-applicant should not divulge application details between teams and (iii) both teams should acknowledge in their application that they are aware that one of their co-applicants is part of a competing application and that study details have not been shared.
Should you have any queries please contact us by email: htagb@nihr.ac.uk