Assessing and Protecting the Mental Health of the Nation during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Project Site: https://www.mentalhealthasap.com/
About the project:
The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented event in our lifetime. Ordinary people have experienced sudden and drastic changes in the way they live, work, and interact with their families and friends. Concerns have been raised by health officials that these changes may have a negative impact on the mental health and psychological wellbeing of the population. This project, Assessing and Protecting the Mental Health of the Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic, was launched to determine what effect the pandemic has had on the mental health of the people of Ireland.
In March 2020, at the start of the outbreak of COVID-19, a team of psychologists and social science research based in Ireland and the United Kingdom came together to form the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study. This study sought to monitor the long-term psychological, social, economic, and political impact of the pandemic on the lives of ordinary adults in the general population of both countries.
The Irish arm of the C19PRC Study is led by Dr. Philip Hyland from the Department of Psychology at Maynooth University and Dr. Frédérique Vallières from the Trinity Centre for Global Health at Trinity College Dublin. Wave 1 of the Irish C19PRC survey was launched on the 31st of March 2020, two days after the nationwide lockdown was enforced across Ireland. A nationally representative sample of over 1,000 adults was recruited to take part. Follow-up surveys took place at the end of the first lockdown (30th of April: Wave 2), and during the summer (16th of July: Wave 3).
Thanks to funding from the Health Research Board and the Irish Research Council, we will be able to track this sample across the first year of the pandemic. Two further Waves of data collection are planned: Wave 4 commences in December to coincide with the end of the second lockdown period, and, Wave 5 will take place in March 2021 to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the lockdown.
ALL Institute member involved in this project
Philip Hyland
