Find out more about the Eczema Bathing Study

 1. Who can take part?

You can take part if you:

• Have eczema
• Live in the UK
• Are at least 1 year old in age
• Are willing to change how often you have a bath / shower for 4 weeks

You cannot take part if:

• If you don’t have eczema symptoms at the moment
• You only have eczema on your hands
• Your eczema is only in places where your skin is in contact with nickel e.g. jewellery
• Your eczema is only around varicose veins
• You have started a new eczema treatment, other than moisturisers (sometimes called emollients), in the last 4 weeks.
• You are taking part in another eczema study where you are trying something new for your eczema like a treatment or medicine.
• You are planning to swim more than twice a week in the next 4 weeks (including surfing, scuba diving etc)
• Someone else from your household is already taking part in the Eczema Bathing Study

If you are under 16 years old your parent/carer will need to agree that you can take part. 

2. Who has set up the study?

People living with eczema and parents of children with eczema have teamed up with researchers from the University of Nottingham.

Together, they are trying to find out how often to bath or shower with eczema.

The Eczema Bathing Study is part of the Rapid Eczema Trials project (www.RapidEczemaTrials.org). This project is a new approach to running clinical trials. It allows people with eczema to answer questions that they have about how best to care for their eczema. The project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

3. Do I have to take part?

No, it’s up to you whether to take part in this study. If you have any questions, you can contact us and we will try and answer them: RapidEczemaTrials@nottingham.ac.uk

If you do agree to take part, we’d love you to complete the 4-week study. But if you decide to take part now and change your mind later, that is fine too. You can stop taking part at any time, without having to give us a reason, unless you want to.

4. What will I have to do if I take part?

We will ask you to answer some questions online about you and your eczema. This will help us find out if you are able to take part in the Eczema Bathing Study.

You will then complete an online consent form to say that you are happy to take part in the study. If you are aged under 16 years your parent/carer will need to complete the consent form. There will be an optional section on the consent form for children and young people under 16 to confirm they would like to take part.

A special computer programme will put you into one of two groups:

Weekly Bathing Group: will bath or shower 1 or 2 times per week

Daily Bathing Group: will bath or shower 6 or more times per week

This will be done randomly, meaning it works like the toss of a coin. It helps make sure our study is a fair test.

You will be in the study for 4 weeks.  You will be asked to follow the bathing pattern for the group that you have been put into. You can continue to use your usual eczema treatments as often as you need to. We ask that you do not start any new treatments during the study if possible.

Each week we will ask you to fill out some online questionnaires about your eczema. You will receive a link to the questionnaires by email or text. We will also send you reminders by email or, with your permission, by text to tell you when they need completing. Towards the end of the study, we may give you a friendly call as a reminder to fill in the final questionnaire.

Children may fill in the questionnaires themselves if they are able to, or with the help of an adult. A parent/carer can complete the questionnaire on behalf of a child, but we encourage you to discuss the answers with your child (if appropriate). If an adult is completing the questions on behalf of a child, ideally this should be the same adult throughout the study.

Everything we will ask you to do will be online. This means you can access it with your computer or smartphone/tablet from home. If you don’t have access to the internet at home, you can still take part. You can complete the questionnaires at a public place with free Wi-Fi, such as a library or cafe.

If you complete the final study questionnaire at 4 weeks, you can enter a prize draw if you would like to. You could win £25 or a child-friendly book about living with eczema as a thank you for taking part.

You may also be asked if you would be willing to talk to a researcher about your experience of being in the study.  You do not have to agree to doing this is you would prefer not to.

5. What are the benefits to taking part?

It may help us to understand more about managing eczema in the future. Some people like to feel they are helping others by taking part, and some people like to try new things out for themselves.

6. What are the risks of taking part?

It is possible that some people may find their eczema gets better but some might find that it gets worse. You can still use your regular creams and treatments to help relieve the symptoms.

Your safety is always our priority. We do not think you are likely to come to any harm in this study, but if you experience any problems, you can contact the study team at RapidEczemaTrials@nottingham.ac.uk

7. What if I’m worried about extra costs from taking part in the study?

We can support you if you are worried about increased costs from taking part in the study. Just let us know and we can arrange some financial help. 

8. What will happen if I don’t want to carry on with the study?

If you change your mind at any time and don’t want to carry on in the study, that is okay. It is up to you if you want take part. If you decide you don’t want to carry on, we will still keep and use the information collected before you stopped taking part.

If you are unsure at any stage, then please contact us at RapidEczemaTrials@nottingham.ac.uk

9. What happens at the end of the study?

• When your time in the study ends after 4 weeks, you can have a bath or shower as often as you like.

• You might like to sign up to the Rapid Eczema Trials newsletter to receive regular updates about the whole Rapid Eczema Trials project.

• Once the Eczema Bathing Study has finished for all participants, we will share the results with everyone who took part and will put the results on the website for others to see.

• The results will also be published in scientific medical journals, presented at conferences, and shared with the wider eczema community. 

10. How to contact us

You can contact the Eczema Bathing Study research team at RapidEczemaTrials@nottingham.ac.uk

11. Who is organising and funding this study? How has it been approved?

The study is being organised by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (the Sponsor) and is coordinated by the University of Nottingham. The study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). All research involving people is checked by an independent group of people, called a Research Ethics Committee. This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by London-Surrey Research Ethics Committee (23/PR/0899).

People with eczema have worked as citizen scientists and identified how best to take a bath or shower as a question important to them. They have worked in teams with researchers and doctors to help design important parts of this study. People with experience of eczema are also involved in the teams that oversee the running of the study.

If you would like to find out more about how your data will be used, please follow this link.

I want to take part in the study! What do I do now?

If you would like to take part, click the ‘Join Now’ button below.

If you have any difficulties, please contact the Eczema Bathing Study team at RapidEczemaTrials@nottingham.ac.uk