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Research project

ECO Eczema Care Online

Project overview

We will develop and test online resources that address the needs of people with eczema in supporting their use of eczema treatments. The research will focus on meeting the needs of carers of children with eczema, and teenagers and young adults who manage their own eczema. We will also address the concerns of patients and healthcare professionals around the safety of topical corticosteroids.

This project will be carried out through the following five inter-connected work packages (WPs):

WP 1: Explore the support needs and barriers to self-care through reviewing the existing evidence and conducting interviews with people with eczema and people who care for someone with eczema.
Objectives: Gain an understanding of experiences of eczema, including self-care support needs and patient/carer views on, and experience of, using eczema treatments.

WP 2: Systematically review existing evidence on topical corticosteroid safety.
Objectives: Establish current best evidence on the safety of topical corticosteroids and use this to create tools to support shared decision making and shared understanding between health professionals and people with eczema.

WP 3: Develop two online interventions to help support self-care: one for parents/carers of children with eczema and one for teenagers and young adults with eczema.
Objectives: Create two tailored interventions designed to target and influence behaviour.

WP 4: Determine clinical and cost-effectiveness of the online interventions compared to standard care by performing two randomised controlled trials with health economic analyses.
Objectives: Feasibility randomised controlled trials will establish the trial recruitment and viability, and the full-scale trials will determine clinical and cost effectiveness.

WP 5: Investigate how the interventions can be integrated into clinical practice and facilitate their uptake if effective.
Objectives: Support the interpretation of the findings and facilitate uptake of the interventions and engage with clinical communities to promote sign-posting towards interventions.

Contact: ECO@soton.ac.uk
This research is being conducted by the Primary Care Research Centre

Staff

Lead researcher

Professor Miriam Santer

Professor of Primary Care Research

Research interests

  • Self-management of long-term conditions
  • Primary Care Dermatology - particularly eczema, acne and cellulitis
  • Mixed methods research including development and evaluation of complex interventions
Other researchers

Professor Paul Little

Professor in Primary Care Research

Professor Lucy Yardley OBE

Professorial Fellow-Research

Dr Ingrid Muller BSc, MSc, PhD, CPsychol, FHEA

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • Self-management of long-term conditions
  • Behavioural health interventions
  • Digital health

Professor Gareth Griffiths

Director Clinical Trials Unit

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Research outputs

Beth Stuart,
Julie Hooper,
Sylvia Wilczynska,
Hywel C Williams,
Joanne R Chalmers,
Paul Leighton,
Laura M Howells,
Matthew J Ridd,
Sandra Lawton,
Jacqui Nuttall,
Sinead M Langan,
Amanda Roberts,
Amina Ahmed,
Hayden Kirk,
Kim S Thomas,
, 2021 , BMJ Open , 11 (2) , 1--8
Type: article
Emma Axon,
Joanne R Chalmers,
Matthew J. Ridd,
Sandra Lawton,
Sinead M Langan,
Douglas J C Grindlay,
Amanda Roberts,
Amina Ahmed,
Hywel C. Williams,
& Kim S. Thomas
, 2021 , BMJ Open , 11 (7) , 1--12
Type: article
Daniela Ghio,
Sylvia Wilczynska,
Amanda Roberts,
Matthew J. Ridd,
Kim Thomas,
, 2020 , British Journal of Dermatology , 184 (4) , 627--637
Type: article
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