Dr Clem Edwards, Trial Coordinator at Kings College London reflects on reaching this important milestone
A Cairn on Cairngorm Mountain. Photo by Bridey Rudd
When we first started recruitment in January 2021, after a 3-month pause, and at the height of the pandemic, it was very difficult to predict how things would go. The success of a trial can be measured in lots of ways, for me the positive experience of participants is a very important measure of how we’re doing. But a measure that is perhaps used most is whether recruitment numbers are on track and so the monthly targets can feel very important, especially at the start.
So, it is with a huge sense of achievement and pride in our team and participants that I am happy to report we have now included over 100 participants in AVATAR2 across our 4 sites.
Reaching this milestone reflects us being on track with our recruitment targets and managing to spread the word and support people to access the trial against all the odds during a national lockdown. It also reflects us offering an intervention to over 60 people who are experiencing distressing voices, which has presented its own challenges in these times and is something to be proud of. This milestone also represents us pulling together a team of over 20 people when we could only meet remotely, not to mention developing a lot of protocols for things we are less familiar with (social distancing, masks, and lateral flow tests to name a few!) and this is a credit to the dedicated and hard-working group of people behind AVATAR2.
I look forward to noting more milestones in the trial as we continue to move forwards and would like to thank everyone in the AVATAR2 team for their contribution so far.
Clem
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