Development and initial testing of a new tool to measure the experience of eczema control in adults and children

Eczema (also known as atopic eczema and atopic dermatitis) affects about one in five children and one in 10 adults. Asking patients to self‐report their ‘eczema control’ has been suggested as a way to measure the effect of eczema treatments over the long‐term. This study aimed to develop a tool (method) to measure ‘eczema control’ that can be filled in by eczema patients or their caregivers. Eczema control is a term that incorporates a range of factors, such as changes in disease activity, the treatment and management of the condition and psychological, social and physical functioning. Eczema patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals and researchers were included as developers of the tool, to ensure that multiple perspectives were considered in the process of developing the tool. The research was conducted in the UK, but the developers were from five different countries. To develop the tool, six people with eczema and caregivers were asked about their understanding of the term ‘eczema control’ in a focus group. The developers then designed some questions to be used in the tool. Next, 13 people with eczema and caregivers were asked to fill in the questions whilst thinking out loud as they answered them. This allowed the authors to see where people were having difficulty answering the questions and they could change them until people were able to answer them more easily. They then asked 330 patients or their caregivers to fill in the questions in an online survey. This allowed the developers to assess which questions should remain in the final tool. The process resulted in a tool called Recap for atopic eczema (RECAP), which is an easy to use measure of ‘an individual's experience of eczema control’ intended for use in eczema research as well as for patient care in clinic. Linked Article:   Howells et al. Br J Dermatol 2020; 183 :524–536.