Coordinated_Research_Projects-(ARC)-Fundings
ldri | Bruxelles Woluwe
Di_Prescribe
ARC projects are large-scale collaborative research projects (48 to 60 months), aimed at developing inter-university centers, with a view to the economic and social valorization of research results.
In 2022, ARC financed the Di-Prescribe project.
Prescription of medications is a fundamental component of health care. However, inappropriate prescriptions and overuse of medications could increase the risk of negative health consequences.
In particular, benzodiazepine receptor agonists (BZRA), used in case of insomnia or anxiety, are likely to be prescribed inappropriately. BZRA use is not recommended for more than 4 weeks, particularly among older adults who may experience various adverse effects such as higher risks of falls, hip fractures and cognitive impairment. As an example, 52% of nursing home residents are prescribed a BZRA for longer than 4 weeks in 99% of cases, despite the current guidelines.
Deprescription aims to address the global problem of medication overuse through the reduction of the doses or discontinuing one or more medication that are no longer necessary for the patient. Deprescribing BZRA in the elderly, living in nursing homes, but also in the community setting, is therefore a solution to their inappropriate use.
Anne Spinewine, Professor of clinical pharmacy
Anne Spinewine is professor of clinical pharmacy and leads the clinical pharmacy research group (CLIP), Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), UCLouvain. She has extensive expertise in quantitative and qualitative research on the appropriateness of use of medications in older people, and in interdisciplinary and patient-centred approaches toward optimisation of medication use. As part of DI-PRESCRIBE project, Anne Spinewine will lead the work packages 1 and 3.
Jean Macq, professor of public health
Jean Macq is professor of public health at the faculty of public health and senior researcher at the Institute of Research Health and Society (IRSS), UCLouvain. Thus, he coordinates research and evaluation projects in the field of integrated care, interorganizational network analysis, chronic care and primary care organization. Over the last years, Jean Macq has coordinated national complex evaluations of healthcare reforms. As part of DI-PRESCRIBE project, Jean Macq will lead the work package 4.
Marie de Saint Hubert, professor of geriatric medicine
Marie de Saint Hubert is geriatrician and professor of geriatric medicine at CHU UCLouvain Namur. She shares her time between clinical functions and research projects focusing on informal caregivers, end-of-life issues and early identification of frail older persons. As part of DI-PRESCRIBE project, Marie de Saint Hubert will lead the work package 1.
Stephan Van den Broucke, professor in psychological sciences
Stephan Van den Broucke is professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and the Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UCLouvain. His research focuses on preventive health behaviour change, health promotion, health literacy, chronic disease self-management and public health capacity building. He has been promoter or principal investigator of more than 30 contracted research projects, including several international and European-funded projects. As part of DI-PRESCRIBE project, Stephan Van den Broucke will lead the work package 2.
Sandy Tubeuf, professor in health economics
Sandy Tubeuf is a professor in health economics at UCLouvain. She has led the economic evaluations alongside several landmarks clinical trials of complex interventions (e.g. mental health and public health interventions) in the UK. In DI-PRESCRIBE, she will provide expert advice on the health economic evaluation of the feasibility studies and the full evaluation of interventions’ efficacity as part of WP1. She co-supervises the work of the postdoctoral researchers.
Joséphine Aikpitanyi, Post-doctoral researcher
Josephine Aikpitanyi is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Health Research and Society (IRSS), Faculty of Public Health, UCLouvain. As a member of the project DI-PRESCRIBE, she works with Sandy Tubeuf on the Health Economic component of WP1.
Tina Chevallereau, Post-doctoral researcher
Tina Chevallereau has been a post-doctoral researcher at the Clinical Pharmacy research group (CLIP), Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), UCLouvain, until September 2023. As a member of the project DI-PRESCRIBE, she has been participating to the process evaluation of the studies conducted in WP1 as well as to the realist evaluation conducted in WP4. Finally, she has been involved in the coordination aspects of the research project, in collaboration with Anne Spinewine.
Marine Jaeken, Post-doctoral researcher
Marine Jaeken joined the Clinical Pharmacy research group (CLIP), Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), UCLouvain, as a post-doctoral researcher, from November 2023 to September 2024. As a DI-PRESCRIBE member, she contributed to the process evaluation of the studies conducted in WP1, as well as to the realist evaluation conducted in WP4, following up on Tina’s work. She also participated in some coordination aspects of the research project, led by Anne Spinewine.
Sara Alves Jorge, PhD Student
Sara Alves Jorge is a PhD Student at the Institute of Research Health and Society (IRSS), UCLouvain. As a member of the project DI-PRESCRIBE, she aims to identify the factors that determine the willingness of patients and informal caregivers (i.e. partners, adult children, etc.) to engage or not to engage in deprescribing, through a systematic review of the literature. This work will lead to the development of a questionnaire and thus contribute to the work package 2.
Laudine Ackermans, PhD Student
Pharmacist by training, Laudine Ackermans is a doctoral student in the Clinical Pharmacy Research Group (CLIP), Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), UCLouvain. Her work focuses on improving the deprescribing skills of future healthcare providers (doctors, pharmacists and nurses). As a DI-PRESCRIBE member, she is conducting work-package 3, which aims to create and evaluate, through implementation science, an innovative teaching tool to remove the barriers of deprescribing for healthcare students.
Dominique Vanpee
Perrine Evrard, PhD Student
Perrine Evrard is pharmacist by training. During her PhD at the Clinical Pharmacy research group (CLIP), Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), UCLouvain, she focused benzodiazepines deprescribing in nursing homes. With insights from behavior-change theories, she developed an intervention towards benzodiazepines deprescribing, pilot-tested it in 6 nursing homes across French-speaking parts of Belgium. This work contributed to the DI-PRESCRIBE project as part of the work-package 1.
Catherine Pétein, PhD Student
Catherine Pétein is a nurse by background. Benzodiazepine deprescribing in community-dwelling older adults was the main topic of her PhD thesis conducted at the Clinical Pharmacy research group (CLIP), Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), UCLouvain. Her work, related to the development of an intervention promoting benzodiazepine deprescribing in the community setting and to the evaluation of its feasibility contributed to the DI-PRESCRIBE project as part of work package 1. From October 2024, she is participating in the project as a post-doctoral researcher, following up on Tina’s and Marine’s work.