NCT06356285

Testing New Ways to Name Antimicrobial Resistance

Completed NA Results posted Last updated 14 January 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Presentation of Antimicrobial Resistance in Antimicrobial Resistance in 4,296 participants. Completed in 1 May 2024.

Timeline

10 April 2024

Primary endpoint
18 April 2024

1 May 2024

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Imperial College London
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	other
Enrollment	4,296
Start date	10 April 2024
Primary completion	18 April 2024
Estimated completion	1 May 2024
Sites	1 location across United Kingdom

Drugs / interventions tested

• Presentation of Antimicrobial Resistance

Conditions studied

• Antimicrobial Resistance — all drugs for Antimicrobial Resistance →
• Attitude to Health — all drugs for Attitude to Health →

Sponsor

Imperial College London

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Antimicrobial Resistance or Attitude to Health. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

Percentage of Correct Answers by Participants on Questions Designed to Evaluate Attitudes Towards Antimicrobial Resistance (Sentiment) Primary · 6 weeks

Evaluation of participant's attitudes towards antimicrobial resistance, related to questions within the survey that assess sentiment (including agreement that antimicrobial resistance is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed, antimicrobial resistance poses a risk to human health and antimicrobial resistance is an issue that may impact the participants own health). This was conducted using a quasi-binominal regression model using the sum of binary ratings of sub-sentiment questions as the primary outcome analysis.

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Arm - Antimicrobial Resistance	81
Intervention Arm 1 - Superbugs	83.2
Intervention Arm 2 - Antibiotic Resistance	86.3
Intervention Arm 3 - Antibiotic Crisis	85.2

Percentage of Correct Answers by Participants on Questions Designed to Evaluate Comprehension of Antimicrobial Resistance Secondary · 6 weeks

Comprehension of the meaning of Antimicrobial Resistance, related to questions within the survey that evaluate comprehension (what has caused antimicrobial resistance, what is the solution to antimicrobial resistance, what antimicrobial resistance is). This was conducted using a quasi-binominal regression model using the number of correct answers to comprehension questions.

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Arm - Antimicrobial Resistance	63.3
Intervention Arm 1 - Superbugs	65.1
Intervention Arm 2 - Antibiotic Resistance	66.0
Intervention Arm 3 - Antibiotic Crisis	65.4

Percentage of Participants Who Stated They Would Request Antibiotics Secondary · 6 weeks

Intention regarding antibiotic use in the context of antimicrobial resistance related to questions within the survey that evaluate intent - asking participants about whether they would request antibiotics in certain scenarios. This was conducted using a separate logistic regression for each scenario (binary - Yes or No).

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Arm - Antimicrobial Resistance	8.7
Intervention Arm 1 - Superbugs	8.5
Intervention Arm 2 - Antibiotic Resistance	8.8
Intervention Arm 3 - Antibiotic Crisis	8.4

Percentage of Participants Who Correctly Recalled the Terminology Related to Antimicrobial Resistance Secondary · 6 weeks

Recall of the term used to describe antimicrobial resistance in the intervention. This was conducted using a separate logistic regression for each question (asking about recall of the name at the top of the poster and the content of the poster) (binary - Yes or No).

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Arm - Antimicrobial Resistance	72
Intervention Arm 1 - Superbugs	65.4
Intervention Arm 2 - Antibiotic Resistance	79
Intervention Arm 3 - Antibiotic Crisis	74.5

Sponsor's own description

This study aims to investigate the public's views on antibiotics and the impact of different ways to name the potential consequences of antibiotics not working in the future. It is known that current ways to name this don't resonate well with the public, and the study team have worked with members of the public through focus groups and community workshops to develop new ways of describing this in a process of co-design. This study aims to test four different ways of presenting this potential crisis to the public, some of which are new communication strategies designed by the public themselves, to evaluate which are the most memorable and investigate the impact on behaviour change.

Adults aged over 18, living in the United Kingdom, who have already signed up to a market panel research company will be eligible to participate in this study.

Participants will be invited to complete a short online survey (this should take around five minutes), advertised to them by the market research panel they have already signed up to. This survey is completely anonymous, and contains some multiple-choice questions, and some that require a short free text response. At the start of the survey one of the four ways to name AMR will be presented to participants in the form of a poster.

This study aims to result in an improved understanding regarding the general public's understanding of antibiotic use and investigate the impact of communication on behaviour change. The data from this study may be used to inform future public health campaigns on this topic and improve the use of antibiotics.

This study will be conducted online using the Predictiv platform, an online platform built by the Behavioural Insights Team. The study is being run in collaboration between the Behavioural Insights Team and the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London.

Is it anticipated that the survey will open in April 2024 and be open until recruitment of 4000 participants is complete. This is expected to take 4-6 weeks.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Differing terminology used to describe antimicrobial resistance can influence comprehension and subsequent behavioural intent.
   Grailey K, Finlayson A, Stuijfzand B, McCrudden C, et al · · 2025 · cited 1× · PMID 40301514 · DOI 10.1038/s43856-025-00849-z