Looking back in time: conducting a cohort study of the long-term effects of treatment of adolescent tall girls with synthetic hormones
Approach: The Tall Girls Study was the first study to examine the long-term health and psychosocial effects of oestrogen treatment for tall stature.
Results: In undertaking this study the research team overcame many hurdles: in maintaining collaboration with treating clinicians and with the women they had treated as girls - groups with opposing points of view and different expectations; using private practice medical records to trace women who had been patients up to forty years earlier; and exploring potential legal issues arising from the collection of data related to treatment.
Conclusions: While faced with complex challenges, the Tall Girls Study demonstrated that forward planning, ongoing dialogue between all stakeholders, transparency of processes, and the strict adherence to group-developed protocols were keys to maintaining rigour while undertaking pragmatic research.
Implications: Public health research often occurs within political and social contexts that need to be considered in the planning and conduct of studies. The quality and acceptability of research findings is enhanced when stakeholders are engaged in all aspects of the research process.
History
Publication title
BMC Public HealthVolume
11Issue
Suppl 5Article number
S7Number
S7Pagination
1-8ISSN
1471-2458Department/School
Menzies Institute for Medical ResearchPublisher
BioMed Central Ltd.Place of publication
United KingdomRights statement
© 2011 Bruinsma et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/Repository Status
- Open