Researchers at Ulster University have carried out a study on the public reaction to the Covid-19 outbreak, finding an increase in anxiety and depression following the lockdown.
With the UK on lockdown for at least the next few weeks, people have had their usual work and home routines heavily disrupted. Ulster University has been carrying out a study on the effect of the UK government's coronavirus measures on the mental health and wellbeing of people in Northern Ireland, and the results have been illuminating.
The rates of self-reported depression and anxiety spiked immediately after the announcement of a country-wide lockdown on March 23rd. Around 38% of the study participants reported significant depression and 36% reported significant anxiety on the day after the announcement, compared to 16% and 17% respectively on the day before the announcement.
The effect slowed down in the following week, but never reached pre-announcement levels, with just over 20% of participants reporting significant depression or anxiety days later. The study ran between Monday 23rd to Friday 24th of March and involved 2,000 participants, making it one of the largest representative studies on the topic.
The research was carried out as a partnership between Ulster University and the University of Sheffield, and was led by Professor Richard Bentall at the University of Sheffield. Participants were selected from across a range of age groups and genders to produce a representative sample across the country's population. It found that 25% of women and 18% of men showed "clinically meaningful symptoms of anxiety" and 23% of women and 21% showed signs of depression.
The study also quizzed participants on their health habits, finding that around 95% said they had started washing their hands more often and 78% were now disinfecting household surfaces more frequently. Around 70% said they would definitely want to be vaccinated against the coronavirus if a vaccine became available.
Professor Mark Shevlin, Professor of Psychology at Ulster University said: "We have managed to capture important information about the psychological well-being of the nation at a critical time during the COVID-19 epidemic in the UK i.e. as the ‘lockdown’ was imposed but before the projected ‘peak’."
"With this data and our data from wave 2 (which we will collect one month from the launch of the first survey) we will be able to conduct a wide variety of studies that will help us to better understand the psychological impact of this crisis, not only in relation to the virus and those it harms physically and psychologically, but in relation also to the impact of the many severe social control measures that have been introduced to slow the spread of the virus."
Source: Ulster University
