Sue Woodward

Sue has worked clinically in neuroscience nursing and continence care. She joined King’s College London as a lecturer in 1999 and has remained there ever since.
Following a term as a head of department and head of clinical education, Sue has pursued a traditional academic career, balancing both research and teaching including supervising PhD students. Most recently she has led a NIHR funded study to develop and test an intervention for people with incontinence associated dermatitis (IAD) in care homes and social care – the PREVENT-IAD study.
She has research interests in IAD, bowel care and assessment of skin conditions in people with darker skin tones.
Presentation at The Society of Tissue Viability 2025 Conference
PREVENTion and treatment of Incontinence-Associated Dermatitis (IAD) through optimising care: development and feasibility cluster randomised trial of the IAD-Manual (PREVENT-IAD)
Objectives
The presentation wil be aimed at health professionals working with people with incontinence and IAD and delegates will learn about:
- Research methdology used
- Development of the IAD-Manual
- Feasibility of the intervention
- Challenges of undertaking research in the sector
Abstract
Background: Incontinence associated dermatitis (IAD) is prevalent in long-term care (LTC) facilities and homecare settings among adults who are incontinent of urine and/or faeces. Strategies to protect skin integrity are needed. This study aimed to co-design and test the feasibility of a training manual and care guidance (IAD-Manual) to prevent and treat IAD in LTC-facilities and homecare settings.
Methods: This was a three-phase study: (1) developing the intervention, (2) designing the empirical study (a cluster randomised controlled trial with an embedded process evaluation) to assess its effectiveness, and (3) a three-month feasibility study.
The intervention, developed with 16 stakeholders, included training (three hours face-to-face and online), an online manual and a poster/flow-chart. The feasibility study recruited three LTC-facilities and two homecare providers, randomising them (each as a cluster) to intervention or control. Process evaluation interviews with two care recipients, 11 family carers and 13 care staff implementing the IAD-Manual and their managers were conducted. Observations of 22 episodes of care assessed fidelity to the intervention. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Summary feasibility outcome measures using means or proportions together with 95% confidence intervals, were reported.
Results: Five sites were recruited from 49 approached. All randomised sites were retained. Seventy-six (16% [95% CI: 13-20%]) of the 477 participants approached were randomised, of which 58 (76% [95% CI: 65-85%]) completed the study. GLOBIAD, MDS and IADIT had complete or almost-complete three-month outcome data in those participants remaining, whereas other outcome measures had contrastingly poor data completeness largely due to participant cognitive impairment. Process evaluation showed few potential participants had capacity to consent and gaining consultee approval was challenging. Care staff at study sites liked the IAD-Manual, describing it as “helpful”. Twenty-eight people accessed the IAD-Manual online and 15 care staff downloaded a certificate of completion of training. Intervention fidelity was not always observed.
Conclusions: It was feasible to develop the IAD-Manual. The RCT as designed was not feasible in its original form, with specific challenges regarding site and participant recruitment, governance, and intervention fidelity.
Presentation at The Society of Tissue Viability 2023 Conference
Current challenges in prevention and treatment of IAD
Objectives
After attending this session, persons will be able to:
- Describe the aetiology of Incontinence Associated Dermatitis (IAD)
- Explain the steps to take to prevent and treat IAD
- Consider variations in care and the reasons for this
- Reflect on the challenges of prevention and treatment of IAD in practice
Abstract
This presentation will provide an overview of the aetiology of incontinence associated dermatitis (IAD) and report the findings of the first phase of the PREVENT-IAD NIHR funded study. The study involved a series of workshops with stakeholders to understand the challenges of managing IAD in care homes and community settings and then to co-design a package of care to prevent and/or treat IAD in these same settings.
This presentation will identify the challenges faced in this area of care and provide an overview of current practice from the perspective of research participants.