Challenges of developing, conducting, analysing and reporting a COVID-19 study as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds: an online co-autoethnographic study

Objectives To capture the complexities and unique experience of a newly formed multidisciplinary and multicentre research team developing and deploying a COVID-19 study and to identify lessons learnt.Design Co-autoethnographic study.Setting Staff at two UK academic institutions, a national charity a...

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Main Authors: Roshan das Nair, Rachael Hunter, Nikos Evangelou, Afagh Garjani, Katherine A Tuite-Dalton, Rod M Middleton, Richard S Nicholas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2021-06-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/6/e048788.full
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author Roshan das Nair
Rachael Hunter
Nikos Evangelou
Afagh Garjani
Katherine A Tuite-Dalton
Rod M Middleton
Richard S Nicholas
author_facet Roshan das Nair
Rachael Hunter
Nikos Evangelou
Afagh Garjani
Katherine A Tuite-Dalton
Rod M Middleton
Richard S Nicholas
author_sort Roshan das Nair
collection DOAJ
description Objectives To capture the complexities and unique experience of a newly formed multidisciplinary and multicentre research team developing and deploying a COVID-19 study and to identify lessons learnt.Design Co-autoethnographic study.Setting Staff at two UK academic institutions, a national charity and two major UK hospitals.Participants Researchers, clinicians, academics, statisticians and analysts, patient and public involvement representatives and national charity.Methods The sampling frame was any content discussed or shared between research team members (emails, meeting minutes, etc), standard observational dimensions and reflective interviews with team members. Data were thematically analysed.Results Data from 34 meetings and >50 emails between 17 March and 5 August 2020 were analysed. The analysis yielded seven themes with ‘Managing our stress’ as an overarching theme.Conclusions Mutual respect, flexibility and genuine belief that team members are doing the best they can under the circumstances are essential for completing a time-consuming study, requiring a rapid response during a pandemic. Acknowledging and managing stress and a shared purpose can moderate many barriers, such as the lack of face-to-face interactions, leading to effective team working.
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institution Kabale University
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language English
publishDate 2021-06-01
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series BMJ Open
spelling doaj-art-d67b0cae7d8c4db8802e6163566255e52024-11-20T05:40:07ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552021-06-0111610.1136/bmjopen-2021-048788Challenges of developing, conducting, analysing and reporting a COVID-19 study as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds: an online co-autoethnographic studyRoshan das Nair0Rachael Hunter1Nikos Evangelou2Afagh Garjani3Katherine A Tuite-Dalton4Rod M Middleton5Richard S Nicholas6Health Division, SINTEF, Trondheim, NorwayCollege of Health and Human Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UKMental Health and Clinical Neurosciences Academic Unit, University of Nottingham School of Medicine, Nottingham, UKMental Health and Clinical Neurosciences Academic Unit, University of Nottingham School of Medicine, Nottingham, UKDepartment of Population Data Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UKDepartment of Population Data Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UKDepartment of Population Data Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UKObjectives To capture the complexities and unique experience of a newly formed multidisciplinary and multicentre research team developing and deploying a COVID-19 study and to identify lessons learnt.Design Co-autoethnographic study.Setting Staff at two UK academic institutions, a national charity and two major UK hospitals.Participants Researchers, clinicians, academics, statisticians and analysts, patient and public involvement representatives and national charity.Methods The sampling frame was any content discussed or shared between research team members (emails, meeting minutes, etc), standard observational dimensions and reflective interviews with team members. Data were thematically analysed.Results Data from 34 meetings and >50 emails between 17 March and 5 August 2020 were analysed. The analysis yielded seven themes with ‘Managing our stress’ as an overarching theme.Conclusions Mutual respect, flexibility and genuine belief that team members are doing the best they can under the circumstances are essential for completing a time-consuming study, requiring a rapid response during a pandemic. Acknowledging and managing stress and a shared purpose can moderate many barriers, such as the lack of face-to-face interactions, leading to effective team working.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/6/e048788.full
spellingShingle Roshan das Nair
Rachael Hunter
Nikos Evangelou
Afagh Garjani
Katherine A Tuite-Dalton
Rod M Middleton
Richard S Nicholas
Challenges of developing, conducting, analysing and reporting a COVID-19 study as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds: an online co-autoethnographic study
BMJ Open
title Challenges of developing, conducting, analysing and reporting a COVID-19 study as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds: an online co-autoethnographic study
title_full Challenges of developing, conducting, analysing and reporting a COVID-19 study as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds: an online co-autoethnographic study
title_fullStr Challenges of developing, conducting, analysing and reporting a COVID-19 study as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds: an online co-autoethnographic study
title_full_unstemmed Challenges of developing, conducting, analysing and reporting a COVID-19 study as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds: an online co-autoethnographic study
title_short Challenges of developing, conducting, analysing and reporting a COVID-19 study as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds: an online co-autoethnographic study
title_sort challenges of developing conducting analysing and reporting a covid 19 study as the covid 19 pandemic unfolds an online co autoethnographic study
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/6/e048788.full
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