Evidence from UK Research Ethics Committee members on what makes a good research ethics review, and what can be improved.

The rapid development of vaccines and other innovative medical technologies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic required streamlined and efficient ethics and governance processes. In the UK the Health Research Authority (HRA) oversees and coordinates a number of the relevant research governance processes including the independent ethics review of research projects. The HRA was instrumental in facilitating the rapid review and approval of COVID-19 projects, and following the end of the pandemic, have been keen to integrate new ways of working into the UK Health Departments' Research Ethics Service.

Is telephone health coaching a useful population health strategy for supporting older people with multimorbidity? An evaluation of reach, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness using a 'trial within a cohort'.

Background: Innovative ways of delivering care are needed to improve outcomes for older people with multimorbidity. Health coaching involves 'a regular series of phone calls between patient and health professional to provide support and encouragement to promote healthy behaviours'. This intervention is promising, but evidence is insufficient to support a wider role in multimorbidity care.

The cohort multiple randomized controlled trial design was found to be highly susceptible to low statistical power and internal validity biases.

Objectives: The "cohort multiple randomized controlled trial" (cmRCT) is a recent innovation by which novel interventions are trialed within large longitudinal cohorts of patients to gain efficiencies and align trials more closely to standard clinical practice. The use of cmRCTs is outpacing its methodological understanding, and more appropriate methods for designing and analyzing such trials are urgently needed.

Study Design And Setting: We established the UK Comprehensive Longitudinal Assessment of Salford Integrated Care cohort of 4,377 patients with long-term conditions within which we are conducting a cmRCT ("Proactive Telephone Coaching and Tailored Support") of telephone-based health coaching.

Associations of participation in community assets with health-related quality of life and healthcare usage: a cross-sectional study of older people in the community.

Background: Community assets are promoted as a way to improve quality of life and reduce healthcare usage. However, the quantitative impact of participation in community assets on these outcomes is not known.

Methods: We examined the association between participation in community assets and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (EuroQol-5D-5L) and healthcare usage in 3686 individuals aged ≥65 years.

Patient activation in older people with long-term conditions and multimorbidity: correlates and change in a cohort study in the United Kingdom.

Background: Patient Activation is defined as the knowledge, skill, and confidence a patient has in managing their health. Higher levels of patient activation are associated with better self-management, better health outcomes, and lower healthcare costs. Understanding the drivers of patient activation can allow better tailoring of patient support and interventions.

Rationale, design and conduct of a comprehensive evaluation of a school-based peer-led anti-smoking intervention in the UK: the ASSIST cluster randomised trial [ISRCTN55572965].

Background: To date, no school-based intervention has been proven to be effective in preventing adolescent smoking, despite continuing concern about smoking levels amongst young people in the United Kingdom. Although formal teacher-led smoking prevention interventions are considered unlikely to be effective, peer-led approaches to reducing smoking have been proposed as potentially valuable.

Methods/design: ASSIST (A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial) is a comprehensive, large-scale evaluation to rigorously test whether peer supporters in Year 8 (age 11-12) can be recruited and trained to effect a reduction in smoking uptake among their fellow students.