Take part in questionnaires into COVID-19 and care homes

COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on people living in care homes, including older people and people with a learning disability, who are at a significantly increased risk of death due to COVID-19. Developing effective interventions to prevent COVID-19 transmission in this vulnerable population is the current target of urgent public health research. Current methods to prevent COVID-19 infection in care home residents and reduce transmission within care homes rely on behavioural and environmental interventions such as infection control measures (including the use of PPE and isolation measures) and visiting restrictions. However, these measures have a significant impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of care home residents.

Vaccines and other pharmacological interventions (such as prophylaxis drugs or antibody preparations) may help to prevent COVID-19 infection and transmission in care home settings. When assessing how effective these interventions are, researchers must decide which ‘outcome’ measure to use in their trials. Poor choices can lead to the use of outcomes that are not those that people living in care homes, and those who care for them, regard as most important or relevant.

As this is a new disease, currently there is no agreement about what outcomes should be measured when testing interventions aimed at preventing the transmission of COVID-19 in care homes such as drugs, antibody preparations and vaccines.

In this research study we aim to find out how we should evaluate the impact of these interventions in order to develop an agreed set of outcomes for trials testing their effectiveness. A core outcome set represents the minimum that should be measured and reported in trials of a specific condition or context, making it easier for the results of trials to be compared, contrasted and combined as appropriate.

What is involved

This study is in two to three rounds and if you agree to take part you will be asked to respond to all rounds. Completion of each round will take about 10 minutes. The study will be conducted entirely online. This questionnaire is the first round of the survey. We would like you to complete this questionnaire by 27th April 2021. Once we have received responses to this first questionnaire, we will collect together and summarise the results and prepare the second-round questionnaire.

For more information and to get involved visit the study website.