Social Activity, Loneliness and Stigma During COVID-19 Outbreak

Summary

The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the association of quarantine measures for COVID-19 and perceived anxiety, stigma and loneliness and to evaluate the efficacy of interventions in reducing anxiety, loneliness and perception of stigma induced by self-isolation during the outbreak.

Specific Aims:

In the proposed study, participants will include members of the United States general population who will be randomly assigned to either (a) a vignette to learn about the COVID-19 outbreak, (b) a vignette to learn about the COVID-19 outbreak AND a video aimed at encouraging the use of a digital device (i.e. not in person contact) to meet with friends, (c) a vignette to learn about the COVID-19 outbreak AND a video aimed at sensitizing participants to COVID-19 related stigma, (d) Control arm. Web-based self-report questionnaires will be conducted to compare interventions and control groups. The short and low-cost online module will allow recruitment of a large sample of people.

Hypotheses:

(1) the video-based intervention groups will demonstrate lower rates of anxiety and loneliness than vignette and control groups, (2) the video-based group that presents an individual with COVID-19 will demonstrate lower rate of stigma than other groups.

Conditions

• Covid19
• Fear
• Loneliness

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Digital social activity video intervention

A 150 seconds video aimed at encouraging the use of a digital device (i.e. not in person contact) to meet with friends during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two friends meet via zoom instead of in person and share their experiencing supporting each other.

BEHAVIORAL

Informational sheet

An informational sheet to learn about the COVID-19 outbreak (standard).

BEHAVIORAL

Stigma awareness video intervention

A video aimed at sensitizing participants to COVID-19 related stigma. A COVID-19 + individual share their experience.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• New York State Psychiatric Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• Columbia University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Linda Valeri, PhD · Assistant Professor of Biostatistics

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-04-02

Primary Completion

2020-04-16

Completion

2020-04-16

Countries

• United States

Study Locations