O'Dowd-Crawley early intervention study

This study and thread had completely escaped me -- landed here when searching the forum for the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAI) .

Took me a while to realize that the researcher finally published the failed study some time after @JohnTheJack had started to investigate -- that's why I kept reading (and liking) so many posts....:asleep::dead:

Will ask the moderators to insert a link to the publication of the (failure of) the study into the opening post. (Mod note: done)
 
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Esther12 said:
I don't know why some assume O'Dowd has valuable expertise for patients, rather than just attracting funding? The PACE trial seems to be the closest she's come to showing she does... and that's not without its problems.

Thought this page could be of interest, announcing funding for the early intervention study: "Dr O’Dowd said: “This is very much a feasibility study but it will provide clinicians with important information around whether early intervention has positive benefits for these patients. We await the results with interest and would like to thank the Research for Patient Benefit programme for their support with our trial.”"

https://www.nbt.nhs.uk/news-media/latest-news/frenchay-lead-£250000-study-effects-early-intervention-me

There was a lot of hype for the funding of this earlier trial too, including at the BBC:

"Dr Hazel O'Dowd, project leader, believes the early stages of the new approach are already paying dividends to patients. She said: "Everyone in the scheme is absolutely delighted by the impact it is having on their lives."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1834060.stm

Null results for that one too:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17014748

All the while she'd been 'educating' others in the NHS about ME/CFS.

Even post-PACE Action for ME got her to do a webinar for GPs:


O'Dowd was involved with this hugely hyped Action for ME project that had no control group but is now apparently influencing training at the DWP: https://www.nbt.nhs.uk/news-media/l...people-chronic-fatigue-syndromeme-return-work

She shaped the BACME clinical guide being promoted by Action for ME (though the blog now seems offline?):


She was leading the 'petition' created to try to get patients to support giving more money for the services of her and her colleagues: https://www.meaction.net/2019/08/05/a-petition-cloaked-in-the-respectability-of-research/

Even more OT: I was just reading through a chapter on CFS in "An Occupational Therapist's Guide to Sleep and Sleep Problems"edited by Andrew Green, Cary Brown.
They thank O'Dowd for reading through and commenting on their chapter - it promoting PACE treatment guides and full of stuff like "Recovery from CFS/ME requires goals that evinsage a health life (Prins et al. 2006)."

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vqgQBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA324&lpg=PA324&dq=Hazel+O'Dowd+PACE+trial&source=bl&ots=OA8lyb1_1q&sig=ACfU3U0Pjq_G7KlUYoUcyh_3CS5hH5P0RA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwji_vfk_KfnAhUMTcAKHdgLD3IQ6AEwBnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Hazel O'Dowd PACE trial&f=false

I'm not glad Action for ME is promoting her.
Click to expand...

Quite scary this was only two years ago.
 
Trish said:
Does anyone know whether O'Dowd is still advising and providing materials for AfME, and whether she has changed her approach since NICE?
Click to expand...

https://www.actionforme.org.uk/get-information/about-us/president-patrons-and-advisors/
"Our Medical Adviser

Dr David Strain is our Medical Adviser and was appointed in June 2021.

Dr Strain brings a wealth of clinical and academic experience to our charity, as Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School and as a consultant to the Devon M.E./CFS specialist service. He leads the British Medical Association’s Covid-19 response team and has repeatedly drawn parallels between Long Covid and M.E./CFS, calling for research to benefit all post-viral illnesses."

No mention of H O'Dowd.

O'Dowd is Head of Department for the Southmead (Bristol) Hospital Pain Clinic - which is where physio Pete Gladwell of BACME also works, I would guess that Gladwell has more influence on actual delivery of care to ME/CFS patients at the CFS/ME Service located in the Pain Clinic - Gladwell contributed to the AfME Pacing Guide: Peter Gladwell

Edit: omitted link to the AfME Pacing Guide: Pacing and energy management
 
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