Case Study

The FORCE Study

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

The FOrearm Fracture Recovery in Children Evaluation Study: a multi-centre prospective randomised equivalence trial of a soft bandage and immediate discharge versus current treatment with rigid immobilisation for acute torus fractures of the distal radius in children.

Post date: Apr '18

Animation,
Case study,
Clinical trials,
Web

The FORCE Study: Summary

The FORCE study is seeking to improve the treatment of children who have a minor injury to their wrist, called a torus (or buckle) fracture.

These injuries are really common, and thousands of children sustain them in the UK each year. They are stable injuries, meaning that the bones do not move out of place, and are really similar to a sprain. It is known that they heal quickly in a few weeks, whatever the treatment given. Despite these high numbers, doctors are not sure whether it is best to treat these injuries with early movement to prevent stiffness or with a hard splint which holds the wrist in one position.

The FORCE study will compare two treatments:

early use of the wrist and an optional bandage, and a point of contact for any ongoing concern
hard splints and follow up according to the treating hospital’s current outpatient policy

Link to The FORCE Study website

What we did

The FORCE Study was one of the TRECA trials run by the University of York. The resources were based on materials developed within a live trial run at Alder Hey Children’s hospital.

Following the TRECA template we developed two Patient Information sites, one for children and one for parents, to communicate the Participant Information to the target audiences of the trial. Both sites included a Patient Information explainer animation, along with Talking Heads Video content featuring medical professionals involved in the trial, as well as parents and children. The websites also included the set of generic Clinical Trial animations featured below.

They really become part of the study team during setup, and are hugely responsive.

Dan Perry, Associate Professor, Orthopaedics & Trauma Surgery

We have gone on to work with Oxford Trauma and Dan Perry on a series of other trials outside the TRECA project, for example CRAFFT.

FORCE Study: Participant Information Animation

This is the Participant Information Animation that we made for the home page of the Force Study Patient Information Website.

FORCE Study: Talking Head Video Content

This is an example of one of the Talking Heads videos that we used throughout the FORCE Patient Information Websites. As well as the clinical researchers we included talking heads from patients and parents.