Gould Jacqueline F, Best Karen, Netting Merryn J, Gibson Robert A, Makrides Maria
Women and Kids, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, 72 King William Road, Adelaide 5006, Australia.
Discipline of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide 5000, Australia.
Nutrients. 2021 Mar 15;13(3):941. doi: 10.3390/nu13030941.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak rapidly became a worldwide pandemic in early 2020. In Australia, government-mandated restrictions on non-essential face-to-face contact in the healthcare setting have been crucial for limiting opportunities for COVID-19 transmission, but they have severely limited, and even halted, many research activities. Our institute's research practices in the vulnerable populations of pregnant women and young infants needed to adapt in order to continue without exposing participants, or staff, to an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19. Here, we discuss our pre-and-post COVID-19 methods for conducting research regarding nutrition during pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood. We discuss modifications to study methods implemented to avoid face-to-face contact when identifying and recruiting potential participants, gaining informed consent, conducting appointments, and collecting outcome data, and the implications of these changes. The COVID-19 pandemic has required numerous changes to the conduct of research activities, but many of those modifications will be useful in post-COVID-19 research settings.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）引发的严重急性呼吸综合征疫情在2020年初迅速演变成一场全球大流行。在澳大利亚，政府强制规定在医疗环境中限制非必要的面对面接触，这对于限制COVID-19传播机会至关重要，但也严重限制甚至暂停了许多研究活动。我们研究所针对孕妇和幼儿等弱势群体的研究实践需要做出调整，以便在不使参与者或工作人员面临更高COVID-19暴露风险的情况下继续进行。在此，我们讨论在COVID-19疫情前后针对孕期、婴儿期和幼儿期营养研究采用的方法。我们探讨了在识别和招募潜在参与者、获取知情同意、安排预约以及收集结果数据时为避免面对面接触而对研究方法所做的修改，以及这些变化带来的影响。COVID-19大流行要求对研究活动的开展进行诸多改变，但其中许多修改在COVID-19疫情后的研究环境中将会有用。
