Image credit: Andrew Neel (Unsplash)
Understanding people’s experiences and needs and ability to successfully self-isolate for COVID-19 is the goal of a new Burnet Institute study to inform current and future pandemic response.
Led by Professor Margaret Hellard AM, the study is seeking to conduct interviews over the phone about the experiences of people who have recently or are currently undertaking self-isolation at home for COVID-19.
These may include people who have travelled through high risk areas, suspect they have been in close contact with a known case, or who have been quarantined at home with controlled symptoms after a positive diagnosis.
“If Australia is to successfully bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control it is vital that people who are requested by the government to self-isolate (self-quarantine) to reduce the risk of ongoing COVID-19 transmission to others in the community do so successfully,” Professor Hellard said.
“This is central to stopping the ongoing transmission of the virus to other members of the community.”
Lead researcher, Dr Angela Davis said asking members of the general public to self-isolate in their homes has become a key public health protection measure to contain and slow the spread of these infectious outbreaks and will become increasingly important as healthcare resources are stretched across a growing population.
“As our systems attempt to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, it has been identified that few additional services and support systems are available to those undertaking self-isolation, with some volunteer community groups attempting to fill this void,” Dr Davis said.
“This research project aims to further understand the enablers and barriers to self-isolation to develop targeted and evidence-based public health responses now and into the future.”
If you are over the age of 18 years and currently reside in Australia, you may be eligible to participate.
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