RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Primary Care Research Is Hard to Do During COVID-19: Challenges and Solutions
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 568
OP 572
DO 10.1370/afm.2889
VO 20
IS 6
A1 Holtrop, Jodi Summers
A1 Davis, Melinda M.
YR 2022
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/20/6/568.abstract
AB Conducting research in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic is hard, due to baseline stresses on primary care, which have been compounded by the pandemic. We acknowledge and validate primary care researchers’ frustrations. Using our experience on over 15 individual projects during the pandemic we identify 3 key challenges to conducting primary care research: (1) practice delivery trickle-down effects, (2) limited/changing resources and procedures for research, and (3) a generally tense milieu in US society during the pandemic. We present strategies, informed by a set of questions, to help researchers decide how to address these challenges observed during our studies. In order to overcome and grow from these challenging times we encourage normalization and self-compassion, and encourage researchers and funders to embrace pragmatic and adaptive research designs as the circumstances with COVID-19 evolve over time.