Jessica Yu and Adelina Comas-Herrera (Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science)

The LTCcovid research projects database shares information about ongoing and completed research projects on COVID-19 and long-term care, with the aim of facilitating collaboration and learning across countries. The projects are categorized by country covered, care setting, outcomes of interest, funding, methodological approach and group covered. Each project has its own page, where outputs and publications can be added when they become publicly available, see for example this study investigating the impact of COVID-19 measures on people living with dementia and their care partners in Australia:

Impact of COVID-19 public health measures on the life and wellbeing and access to care and support of people living with dementia and care partners in Australia

This post provides an overview of the 72 projects registered in the database by the 14^th January 2021.

So far, the projects cover 35 different countries (see figure 1). Some are international and cover more than one country. The majority of projects are taking place in the United Kingdom, followed by the United States, Canada, and Austria. There is a notable concentration of projects in Europe, North America, and South America.

Out of 72 research projects, 51 cover care homes (long-term care residential facilities) and 26 community or home-based care settings (figure 2).

Funding is primarily from public sources, with 39 projects receiving some degree of public funding. 22 of the projects are not funded, reflecting the commitment of researchers to contribute to building the evidence base to address the challenges posed by COVID-19 in the long-term care sector.

People living in care homes represent the most studied population group (covered by 20% of studies) followed by staff working in long-term care (19%), care providers (14%), and unpaid carers (11%). 11% of studies cover people living with dementia. So far there are few studies covering people using care services in the community and people with learning disabilities and sensory impairments.

Most studies are surveys or qualitative, followed by analyses of secondary data, literature reviews and synthesis, and policy analysis. So far there are only 5 trials or evaluations on the database.

The database covers a broad range of interventions with the most common being the prevention and control of COVID-19. Other interventions include measures to support staff and unpaid carers, measures to compensate for isolation policies, and measures to improve access to healthcare. The interventions are being evaluated across multiple outcomes including wellbeing and quality of life, mental health, quality of care, and cost and financial impacts.

The database is still growing and we are constantly looking for new projects to add. If you have a project that you would like to share, please fill out the form here: https://ltccovid.org/submit-research-project-details/