Assessment of the Psycho-social Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak

Summary

It has been shown in previous important outbreaks of infectious diseases that they have a huge impact on individuals and communities. The psychological effects of the illness itself and the traumatic experiences of loved ones are experienced by individuals and complete health systems. Added to this, the social ecosystem and family finances are also severely affected. After several months of the outbreak start and several weeks of quarantine and self-isolation, the emotional burden on the community has increased. Added to this, many of the confirmed cases are healthcare workers. In addition to the risk of infection, these front-line staff are exposed to high levels of stress and anxiety. This gets worse as the pressure on the health system increases, forcing them to deal with significant ethical issues.

To respond to all these issues, the research group led by Dr. Cris Vilaplana at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), have launched a questionnaire to ask the public, including health professionals, how are they being affected by the pandemic, not only in relation to their health but in terms of their emotional wellbeing and their family finances. The project is an initiative of the SMA-TB consortium (IGTP and Anaxomics) to fight against COVID-19. The Fundació Lluita contra la SIDA is also collaborating in the project. The survey is based on questions related to depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which have already been used in other epidemic outbreaks and in disaster situations, but it also includes questions adapted to the current situation.

The survey (now available in 4 languages) has been designed to be shared using a snowball strategy, making possible for everybody to participate and collaborate. The results obtained will initially help us to better understand the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 on the general wellbeing of the population and health workers so that we can go on to develop strategies in coordination those in charge of administrations in order to adapt policies to people's real needs. The results of the study will be published in a scientific article and will be publicly available.

Conditions

• SARS-CoV 2
• COVID-19
• Quality of Life
• Mental Health Wellness 1
• Social Distance
• SARS (Disease)
• Psychological

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

COM-COVID anonimous survey

Anonimous e-survey administered to the general population by sharing it through social and mass media, including questions on sociodemographic data, physical symptoms in the past 14 days compatible with SARS-CoV-2 infection, socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and mental health status.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Anaxomics SL

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Fundación FLS de Lucha Contra el Sida, las Enfermedades Infecciosas y la Promoción de la Salud y la Ciencia

  collaborator OTHER

• Fundació Sant Joan de Déu

  collaborator OTHER

• Fundació Institut Germans Trias i Pujol

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Cris Vilaplana, MD, PhD · Fundació Institut Germans Trias i Pujol

Eligibility

Min Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-03-31

Primary Completion

2021-03-22

Completion

2021-04-07

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations