The Covid-19 Research Series: A summary
I don’t know about you, but Twitter is sending me into panic. As a health researcher, my work Twitter is almost 100% healthcare and currently proof, if we needed it, that sometimes you just don’t need to know everything about everything that’s going on. But finding reliable information is hard.
Over the last few months I’ve been working with Dr Danielle Bodicoat on a research series to highlight a small selection of the research happening into COVID-19. As the Medical Statistician in the team, Danielle has been summarising the quantitative studies whereas I’ve been focussing on qualitative work and survey studies that are looking at people’s experiences of lockdown life.
In this blog I’m bringing together four summaries of projects looking at the experiences of girls and young women, healthcare professionals and people with mental health challenges, as well as a broader study collecting experiences from the general population.
Our series was mentioned in this blog by Anneliese Levy of Thoughtful Content all about managing health information overwhelm - you should take a look at it.
1: Not Everyday Life
Why is this project happening?
Covid-19 has transformed the everyday life of pretty much everyone on the planet. Once the crisis has passed, many aspects of our lives will go back to more or less how they were before, but other things may change forever. This project is recording our experiences of life through this time to try and find out (later), what things change for good.
What are the researchers doing?
Interviewing people across the world about their experiences of everyday life in the age of Covid-19. The ingenious part is that the interviews are crowdsourced. Anyone can sign up to be a contributor or be interviewed. Contributors get access to the database for their own interest or study.
Where can I find out more?
www.noteverydaylife.com
2: The RAMP Study (Repeated Assessment of Mental health in Pandemics)
A project coordinated by King's College London, RAMP is exploring the impact of this pandemic on the public's mental health.
Why is this project happening?
We know Covid-19 has changed how we interact with others and where we go. It's also likely to be affecting how we think, feel & act. RAMP is assessing risks to our mental health & wellbeing and our resilience, to find out what is harming mental health and what is helping us stay well.
What are they doing?
A survey: participants fill in a long questionnaire when they first join & then fortnightly shorter follow-ups. Why is this important? We may see future spikes in Covid-19 that result in lockdown measures, as well as other pandemics & life-changing global events further in the future. Learning what can help us stay resilient will mean better support for everyone if or when this happens again.
Can I get involved?
Yes! If you're living in the UK and over 16. They are recruiting people with and without pre-existing mental health conditions. You can find out more and sign up here. If you're worried about your mental health www.samaritans.org has lots of support and advice.
3: A Qualitative Study on the Psychological Experience of Caregivers of COVID-19 Patients
Published with impressive speed, this project interviewed 20 nurses caring for Covid-19 patients in the Chinese city of Henan.
Why was this research carried out?
To find out about emotional life on the frontline of Covid-19. What were nurses' experiences and how can this understanding help protect the wellbeing of healthcare workers?
What did they find out?
Understandably, caring in a pandemic was a huge psychological challenge for nurses with anxiety, helplessness and guilt. The interviews also uncovered the physical demands of long shifts, uncomfortable PPE and not being able to eat, drink or go to the toilet (already familiar to many nurses and midwives). Nurses also described their coping strategies and the positive emotions - like gratitude and courage - that evolved over time.
Why is this important?
Healthcare workers can get through a crisis on adrenalin, but what happens when it's over? We can expect many to have ongoing psychological trauma & planning support now may help to prevent a crisis later on as many choose to leave practice.
Where can I find out more?
The published article is available here in full text.
4: The impact of Covid-19 on girls and young women
Children have had the same rapid transformation of their lives as adults, but most research being carried out right now is not concerned with their experience. Next up is Girlguiding's survey of lockdown life for girls. Since 2009, Girlguiding have been producing a fascinating annual survey of the lives of girls in the UK.
Why is this project happening?
Juggling school work, maintaining friendships, family dynamics and dealing with the emotional fall-out of lockdown is likely to be having a big impact. All children's experiences are important, but this project is targeted at girls.
What are they doing?
Girlguiding asked girls and young women, age 4-18, to fill out a survey about their emotional wellbeing and how they have been spending their time under lockdown.
Why is this important?
Information will help us find out what children are worrying about and how we can support them.
Where can I find out more?
The survey has finished recruiting, but you can download their report of initial findings here, which show that lockdown has had a real negative impact on many girls’ mental health and wellbeing.
This is just a tiny selection of the work going on exploring how communities have adapted (or not) to this new way of being. I’ve focussed here on quite large-scale research projects by universities or well known community organisations such as Girlguiding, but there are also many smaller projects going on too. For some inspiring insights, it’s worth also looking at some of the creative responses to the pandemic that are exploring human experience: including the lovely Vice video ‘Life in Lockdown: Brits Speak Out, From a Safe Distance’ and the BBC Reel series on Covid-19, in particular the very funny, familiar and moving experience of a Spanish family at home in a tiny flat with a four year old.
About us
Dr Danielle Bodicoat and Dr Juliet Rayment put together this series about COVID-19 studies in the UK.
Danielle is a medical statistician and writer specialising in systematic literature review and evidence synthesis. You can find out more about Danielle and her work on her website and by connecting with her on LinkedIn.
I am a qualitative researcher and storyteller with expertise in the experiences and organisation of health services and a love for finding the stories in qualitative data. You can find out more about me on my website.