Coronavirus (COVID-19): mental health tracker study - wave 2 report

Annex 2. COVID-19 Contextual factors

Effects of COVID-19

Respondents were asked:

• How much does Covid-19 affect your life? (On a scale from No affect at all to Severely affects my life);
• How much does COVID-19 affect you emotionally? e.g. does it make you angry, scared, upset or depressed? (On a scale from Not at all affected emotionally to Extremely affected emotionally)
• The older age group (60+ years) reported that COVID-19 affected their life less severely and they were less emotionally affected compared to the younger age groups.
• Women reported feeling that their life had been more severely affected by COVID-19 than men did, as well as reporting higher rates of emotional affect than men did.
• Respondents in lower SEG reported being more emotionally affected by COVID-19 than respondents in the higher SEG. There were no differences in perceived impact on their lives.

Concerns about COVID-19

• Respondents were asked: How concerned are you about COVID-19? (on a scale from Not concerned at all to Extremely concerned)
• Older adults (60+ years) were most concerned about COVID-19 followed by the age group of 30-59 year olds. Young adults (18-29 year olds) were least concerned about COVID-19.
• At Wave 2 respondents from lower SEGs were more concerned about COVID-19 than those from higher SEGs
• Women were more concerned about COVID-19 than men.
• Respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition were more concerned about COVID-19 than those with no mental health condition.

Understanding of COVID-19

• Respondents were asked: How well do you feel you understand COVID-19? (On a scale from Don't understand at all to Understand very clearly)
• Rates of reported understanding of COVID-19 increased with age, as older adults indicated higher scores than middle-aged adults, who, in turn, scored higher than younger adults.
• Women reported higher rates of feeling they had clear understanding of COVID-19 than men did.
• Most respondents indicated they were seeking information on COVID-19, 'less than once a day' (46.6%) or '1-5 times a day' (45.7%).

Control over COVID-19

• Respondents were asked: How much control do you feel we have over COVID-19? (On a scale from Absolutely no control to Extreme amount of control)
• At Wave 2 respondents from lower SEGs reported feeling that they had greater control over COVID-19 than those from higher SEGs
• More older adults (60+ years) reported feeling that they had lower control over COVID-19 than did younger age groups.
• More respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition reported feeling that they had lower control over COVID-19 than did those with no pre-existing mental health condition.
• Respondents were also asked what they felt their chances of getting COVID-19 were compared to others of the same sex and age. Roughly half of respondents (54.5%) felt they had an 'average' chance of contracting COVID-19, just over a fifth felt they had a lower than average (21.0%) chance, and almost a fifth of respondents felt they had a greater than average chance (19.6%).

Willingness to contact GP for a non-COVID-19 related health concern

• Respondents were asked: How willing would you be to contact your GP about a non-COVID-19 related health concern e.g. a new or changing symptom, if you felt you needed it right now? (On a scale from Not willing at all to Extremely willing)
• The following groups were less likely to contact their GP about a non-COVID-19 related symptom than the sample average:
  • Young adults (aged 18-29 years);
  • Respondents from the lower SEG;
  • Respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition
  • Respondents without a pre-existing physical condition
• Men and women were equally likely to contact their GP about a non-COVID-19 related symptom.