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Southampton Clinical Trials Unit News

New website helps improve eczema in children and young people

Published: 15 December 2022
Child

Researchers in Southampton have developed a website which is helping improve eczema for children and young people.

The EczemaCareOnline website was created by researchers from the University of Southampton and was trialled by hundreds of families in a stusy supported by staff from the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit.

The study showed that the website helped people manage their eczema has led to a reduction in symptoms and improved outcomes for children and young people.

"A debilitating condition"

Eczema is a very common condition in which the skin becomes dry and itchy and will often crack and become sore. It can have a substantial impact on quality of life and costs to the NHS. Treatment can be complex and many people with eczema, and their carers, say that they receive insufficient or conflicting advice about how to use eczema treatments.

Miriam Santer, Professor of Primary Care Research at the University of Southampton and lead author of the study said: “Eczema can be a debilitating condition for so many people, especially children and young people.

"This website gives both patients and clinicians evidence-based resources that have been shown to improve symptoms.”

The website, www.EczemaCareOnline.org.uk , was designed to support young people with eczema and parents or carers of children with eczema to self-manage the condition.

It provides information on what eczema is, how to use eczema treatments, how to avoid potential trigger factors that might make the eczema worse, and support for living well with eczema through videos and written resources.

Positive results

In the study, published in The BMJ, 650 participants were given access to the website in addition to usual care, or received usual care alone from a clinician. Participants who accessed the website were shown to have improved symptoms after six months and those improvements continued for another six months, compared to those who received usual care alone.

Not only did the study monitor their symptoms, but it also asked for feedback on the website, which was very positive.

One participant said: “It was one of the best websites I’ve ever used; it was really easy to use and provided the answers to your specific questions. I didn’t have to read through lots of stuff that wasn’t relevant to me.”

Read the full article on the University of Southampton news pages .

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