Thank-you again for taking part in this important research about women’s health.
It is two weeks since you agreed to take part in PAV. This second survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. It is most important that we receive your survey – as your information is essential to see whether the treatment you have been using is worthwhile.
As with the first survey, this one will be treated as confidential and de-identified. The information will not be passed on to the staff at your general practice.
Please consider each question and circle the number that best describes your answer.
We know how easy it is to forget to take antibiotics and other medications and it will help our study to know how many you took of your antibiotic and intervention this time.
1. How many of your antibiotics did you take?
None / 1Hardly any / 2
Took about half / 3
Took most / 4
All (go to Q3) / 5
2. What made you miss some antibiotics?
(Please circle as many answers as are applicable)
Forgot to take them / 1Decided that I did not need them / 2
Felt better, so I stopped / 3
Had side-effects (please describe) ______
______/ 4
Other ( please describe) ______/ 5
We are interested in your experience using your PAV treatments.
- How many days did you take your oral powder?
None / 1 / 1
Hardly any / 2 / 2
Took about half / 3 / 3
Took most / 4 / 4
Had the powder every day (Go to Q5) / 5 / 5
- What made you miss some powder?
(Please circle as many answers as are applicable)
Forgot to take it / 1
Decided that I did not want to participate in trial / 2
Had side-effects (please describe in Q 5) / 3
Other – please describe ______/ 4
5. Did you experience any side-effects from the powder?
None at all / 1Yes, but still used the medication
(please describe the side-effects below) / 2
Yes, and had to stop using the medication because of the side-effects (please describe the side-effects below) / 3
Side –effects: ______
- How many nights did you use your vaginal pessaries?
None / 1 / 1
Hardly any nights / 2 / 2
Used about half the nights / 3 / 3
Used most nights / 4 / 4
Used the pessaries every night (Go to Q8) / 5 / 5
- What made you miss some pessaries?
(Please circle as many answers as are applicable)
Forgot to take them / 1
Decided that I did not want to participate in trial / 2
Had my period / 3
Had side-effects (please describe in Q8) / 4
Other – please describe ______
______/ 5
8. Did you experience any side-effects from the pessaries?
No, none at all / 1Yes, but still used the medication
(please describe the side-effects below) / 2
Yes, and had to stop using the medication because of the side-effects (please describe the side-effects below) / 3
Side –effects: ______
- Did you experience any symptoms of thrush, such as vaginal itch or irritation or a whitish discharge during your time in this study?
No (please go to question 15) / 1
Maybe / 2
Yes / 3
- How would you rate the symptoms of thrush that you experienced?
Mild / 1
Moderate / 2
Severe / 3
11. To what extent did symptoms of thrush after antibiotics during this trial affect your day-to-day life?
Not at all / 1A little bit / 2
Moderately / 3
A lot / 4
- After how many days on antibiotics did your symptoms begin?
(Answer ‘1’ if symptoms began on the same day that you began the antibiotics)
______days
- Did you treat yourself for these symptoms (vaginal itch or irritation or a whitish discharge) with any therapy? (Answer as many as are applicable)
No treatment / 1
I attended my GP or other health practitioner / 2
Yes, I treated myself (please list all the treatments used below)
______
______
/ 3
- Did you have your second vaginal swab taken before using any treatments?
No / 1
Yes, went to my GP for examination / 2
Yes – took it myself / 3
- In your view, did the oral powder you took work to prevent thrush?
No, not at all / 1
A little bit / 2
Half worked / 3
Quite well / 4
Yes, very well / 5
Don’t know/no opinion / 6
- If you had to guess, would you think you were using the “real” lactobacillus or the inactive placebo oral powder?
Lactobacillus / 1
Placebo (inactive) / 2
Don’t know / 3
- In your view, did the vaginal pessaries you used work to prevent thrush?
No, not at all / 1
A little bit / 2
Half worked / 3
Quite well / 4
Yes, very well / 5
Don’t know/no opinion / 6
- If you had to guess, would you think you were using the “real” lactobacillus or the inactive placebo vaginal pessary?
Lactobacillus / 1
Placebo (inactive) / 2
Don’t know / 3
- If this trial finds that lactobacillus is useful to prevent thrush after antibiotics, would you be interested in using it again when prescribed antibiotics?
a) Oral powder?
Yes (please go to 19b) 1
No. 2
If no, could you explain why not?
Thrush after antibiotics is not a major concern for me 3
Due to the side-effects of the powder 4
I did not like using it 5
I prefer other treatments (please describe) ______ 6
______
Other reason (please explain)______7
______
b) Vaginal pessaries?
Yes (please go to question 20) 1
No. 2
If no, could you explain why not?
Thrush after antibiotics is not a major concern for me 3
Due to the side-effects of the pessaries 4
I did not like using them 5
I prefer other treatments (please describe) ______ 6
______
Other (please explain)______7
______
- We want to know how much you valued these treatments. One way of finding out the value of things is to ask what would be the most people would pay for it.
For both the oral and vaginal forms of therapy tick the boxes next to the prices you would be prepared to pay for a course of treatment and cross the numbers next to those you would not be prepared to pay.
a)Oral powder 10 day course / b)Vaginal pessaries 10 day course
$0 / 1 / $0 / 1
$5 / 2 / $5 / 2
$10 / 3 / $10 / 3
$15 / 4 / $15 / 4
$20 / 5 / $20 / 5
$25 / 6 / $25 / 6
$30 / 7 / $30 / 7
$40 / 8 / $40 / 8
$50 / 9 / $50 / 9
Over $50 / 10 / Over $50 / 10
20 c) It is difficult to know why people are prepared to pay certain amounts for some treatments and not for others. If possible, please explain how you reached your decisions on the amounts to circle and cross in the previous question.
______
21a. If we find that the oral and pessary form of lactobacillus are equally good at preventing thrush after antibiotics, women in the future could chose which form to use. What would you chose?
Oral powder / 1Vaginal pessary / 2
Either – I don’t mind which I use (go to Q22) / 3
Neither – I wouldn’t use any (go to Q22) / 4
Both (go to Q22) / 5
One way of measuring the value to you of getting your preferred treatment is to ask you how much EXTRA you would be willing to pay to receive this treatment instead of the other treatment. This is simply a way of measuring how strongly you feel about having your preferred form of treatment (ie oral powder or pessaries) instead of the other form. There are no right or wrong answers. The amount you say could be large or small - we are interested in your view.
21b. What is the maximum extra amount of money you would be prepared to pay to
receive your chosen treatment instead of the other treatment?
$______
21c. Could you please state below why you are willing to pay this amount?
______
22. Did you notice any other health changes (good or bad) while you were taking the oral and vaginal treatments? (Please explain any health changes below)
______
23. Since you have been involved in this study, have you used or done any of the following things, which may make you more prone to thrush?
(Please circle all numbers that are applicable)
Used any feminine hygiene sprays / 2
Swam in chlorinated swimming pools / 3
Been sexually active
(If you have been sexually active, please estimate number of times over the 2 weeks______
and number of partners______) / 4
Commenced any hormone medications, such as the Pill or HRT / 5
Other (please describe) ______
______/ 6
None of these are applicable to me / 8
24. Please write down the date of the first day of your last period. (We understand this might be hard to remember – just be as close as possible or estimate how many days ago your last period started)
Day/month/year (dd/mm/yy) OR / _____/____/_____
Since my last period started
Todays date is / ______days ago
______
25. Have you ever had an internal (gynaecological) examination, for example for a Pap smear test or when pregnant?
Yes 1
No 2
26. How did you find the experience of obtaining your own vaginal swabs for this study?
______
27. If you had a choice about how to provide a vaginal swab in the future, which would you choose?
Take my own swab / 2
Either – I don’t mind which
Other ______
/ 3
28.Any other comments?
______
Thank-you for your time.
Please place in the provided Reply Paid University of Melbourne envelope, seal and return to your general practice for collection or place in the mail.