A qualitative process evaluation of a nasal spray intervention to prevent respiratory tract infections
Amelia Dennis, Judith Joseph, Kate Greenwell, Sascha Miller, Jane Vennik, Laura Dennison, Sian Holt, Katherine Bradbury, Adam W. A. Geraghty, Paul Little, Lucy Yardley
Abstract
Nasal sprays could be used to prevent and manage respiratory tract infections (RTIs). As part of a randomized controlled trial (ISRCTN17936080), participants received one of two nasal sprays (gel-based vs. saline) and a digital intervention. The digital intervention used behaviour change theories to encourage nasal spray use to reduce the severity and occurrences of RTIs.
Introduction
Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) refer to a diverse group of infectious diseases affecting the upper or lower respiratory tract, encompassing conditions such as the common cold, influenza, and pneumonia. They are typically caused by viruses or bacteria and patients present with symptoms like coughing, sneezing, fever, and difficulty breathing.
Materials and Methods
This was a qualitative process analysis study that is part of the Immune Defence RCT (28). Ethical approvals were granted by the National Research Ethics Committee, NHS, and the University of Southampton (REC: 20/SS/0102; IRAS: 288431; ERGO: 56474).
Results
Two themes were developed from the data: facilitators of nasal spray use and barriers to nasal spray use.
Discussion
In this study, we aimed to understand the factors (pre-existing individual contexts or the digital intervention) that influenced nasal spray usage, with nasal spray usage supported with a digital intervention. The results from this study highlight the barriers and facilitators of nasal spray use.
Acknowledgments
Thank you also to all our PPI panel members.
Citation: Dennis A, Joseph J, Greenwell K, Miller S, Vennik J, Dennison L, et al. (2025) A qualitative process evaluation of a nasal spray intervention to prevent respiratory tract infections. PLoS One 20(4): e0321314. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321314
Editor: Taiwo Opeyemi Aremu, University of Minnesota, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Received: November 29, 2024; Accepted: March 4, 2025; Published: April 29, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 Dennis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: The raw data for this study are transcripts of interviews, which may contain identifying and sensitive information. We are unable to share the data publicly because of ethical restrictions by the University of Southampton Research Ethics and Governance as participants did not consent to their data being shared outside of the study team. De-identified and relevant quotes of the are included in the paper. Requests for additional information can be sent to the University of Southampton Research Ethics and Governance at rgoinfo@soton.ac.uk.
Funding: This study was funded by NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research (RP-PG-0218-20005) and PL is the grant holder.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
