VIVALDI ASCOT & Ethnography
Research type
Research Study
Full title
VIVALDI ASCOT & Ethnography: The Impact of COVID-19 and Other Respiratory Infection Outbreaks on Care Home Residents
IRAS ID
325303
Contact name
Dorina Cadar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sussex
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 17 days
Research summary
In England, 380,000 people live in approximately 11,000 care homes, most aged 85+ years, from whom two-thirds have dementia. Residents have experienced extremely high rates of COVID-19 mortality during the pandemic and were subjected to strict and lengthy lockdown measures, including visitor bans. Prolonged COVID-19 restrictions (e.g. social isolation, visitor restrictions) had a major impact on residents' lives, yet such impacts remain poorly understood in terms of their quality of life, physical and mental health. The VIVALDI & Ethnography Study consists of two complementary components: the first is referred to as VIVALDI ASCOT and comprises interview questions, and the second is VIVALDI Ethnography. The overall study aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 and other respiratory outbreaks and of outbreak control measures on social care-related quality of life (SCRQoL) and on day-to-day life, particularly residents' use of and access to space within the care home.
The VIVALDI ASCOT component will carry out standardised interviews on quality of life, wellbeing, loneliness, and functional ability, together with qualitative questions on the use of space and communications with residents. We will recruit 100 residents from 5 care homes with recent outbreaks of COVID-19 or other respiratory infections (Group 1) and 5 care homes without a recent outbreak (Group 2). The respondents' outcomes will be measured at baseline (T1) and again at T2 (8-12 weeks later).
The VIVALDI Ethnography component will observe residents in the communal areas of 10 care homes to understand how the use of space is affected by infection outbreak measures and how this, in turn, impacts residents' quality of life, wellbeing and social interactions. We will pay attention to how residents communicate with other residents and staff, move around and spend their time. The researcher will interact with residents in their shared social space, but there is no formal interview component of this observation.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
24/IEC08/0001
Date of REC Opinion
18 Mar 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion