UCAIRE (Exploring and Understanding the lived experience in CAre homes for older people of Infection risk and transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic:  a mixed-methods study to inform what we can learn for future infectious disease outbREaks) is a one-year, mixed-methods study, funded by NIHR SSCR, running until May 2022.

Aim:  to explore how older care-home residents, care-home staff and families or friends of residents experienced coping with preventing spread and transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in order to inform development of guidelines and support in managing future outbreaks of infectious diseases in care homes and in providing support to those living and working in care homes.

Objectives:

1. Undertake an online survey of care-home staff to identify broad concepts and specific issues or concerns associated with transmission and spread to and within older people’s care homes.
2. Undertake semi-structured interviews with care-home residents, families/friends and care-home staff to understand their experiences of coping with preventing infection-transmission and risk during the pandemic.
3. Using a mixed methods approach, integrate findings from the quantitative and qualitative arms of the study in order to gain comprehensive understandings from which results and overall guidelines can be developed.  Draft guidelines will be further developed at a stakeholder workshop near the study end, in which stakeholder perspectives and input will help to tailor the guidelines appropriately for specific audiences: care-home staff, residents and family/friends of residents.

Presentation at care-home forums

Accessible “key points” document aimed at care-home staff

Shared learning events (e.g., with our care-home and care organisations collaborators; with organisations supporting residents and families)

Conference presentation

Open Access journal article

Publication in established care-home newsletters and bulletins