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Publication - Research and analysis

Scottish COVID-19 Mental Health Tracker Study: Wave 4 Report

Published
9 September 2021
Topic
Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, Health and social care
ISBN
9781802012361

Wave 4 findings (data collected between 4 February and 9 March 2021.) indicate that young adults, women, people with physical and/or mental health conditions, and people in a lower socio-economic group are more likely to report experiencing poor mental health.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Annex 3: COVID-19 Contextual factors

Attitudes to COVID-19 vaccine

Figure i: Reasons to not take COVID-19 vaccine (%)
This figure illustrates the reasons for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine for the percentage of respondents who do not intend to get the vaccine. Of these, 55.2% worried about unknown future effects of the vaccine and 29.4% reported being worried about side effects. A further 23.4% was concerned about how quickly the vaccines were developed and 17.8% agreed that vaccines are limited and other people need them more than they. Sixteen-point-five-percent perceived the chances of becoming seriously unwell from the coronavirus as low and 15.2% did not think the vaccine would be effective at stopping them from catching the coronavirus. In addition, 12.7% believed that the impact of the coronavirus is greatly being exaggerated and 12.4% indicated ‘other’ reasons. Eleven-point-five-percent reported that they have a condition which would make it unsafe to be vaccinated and 10.7% reported not trusting vaccines. Seven-point-seven-percent believed that herd immunity will protect them if they don’t have the vaccine and 6.1% reported being concerned that the vaccine is part of a conspiracy.
Figure ii: Reasons to take COVID-19 vaccine (%)
This figure illustrates the reasons for taking the COVID-19 vaccine for the percentage of respondents who intend to get the vaccine. Of these, 74.5% agreed that the vaccine will stop them from catching the coronavirus or getting very ill from it, 45.9% reported that it would allow their social and family life to get back to normal and 44.4% reported taking it to protect other people from catching the coronavirus. A further 36% agreed that the vaccine won’t work unless most people take it and 26.2% reported that it would allow them to go out of their home safely again. Fourteen-point-eight-percent reported as a reason generally taking the vaccines offered or recommended to them and 8.2% of participants reported being a key worker with high risk groups. Finally, 3.8% said it would allow them to return to their workplace, 1.9% said it will allow them to get the help and care they need at home and only 0.7% indicated ‘other’ reasons.

Effects of COVID-19

Respondents were asked: How much does Covid-19 affect your life? (On a scale from No effect at all to Severely affects my life).

  • The older age group (60+ years) reported that COVID-19 affected their life less severely. The youngest age group (18-29 years) reported the highest impact of COVID-19.
  • Women reported feeling that their life had been more severely affected by COVID-19 than men did.
  • Respondents with a pre-existing physical health condition reported feeling that their life had been more severely affected by COVID-19 than respondents with no physical health condition.

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) were less emotionally affected compared to the younger age groups.
  • Women reported higher rates of being emotionally affected than men did.
  • Respondents in higher SEG reported being more emotionally affected by COVID-19 than respondents in the lower SEG.
  • Respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition reported being more emotionally affected by COVID-19 than respondents with no physical health condition.

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.
  • 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.
  • Respondents with a pre-existing physical health condition were more concerned about COVID-19 than those with no physical 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 understood COVID-19 than men did.
  • Respondents in the higher SEG reported higher levels of understanding COVID-19 than respondents from the lower SEG.
  • Respondents without a pre-existing mental health condition reported higher levels of understanding COVID-19 than respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition.
  • Respondents with a pre-existing physical health condition reported higher levels of understanding COVID-19 than those with no physical health condition.

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)

  • The 60+ age group reported feeling higher levels of control over COVID-19 than either of the 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 with a pre-existing physical health condition reported feeling that they had higher control over COVID-19 than did those with no pre-existing physical health condition.

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 to 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:
    • Adults aged 18-29 years and 30-59 years;
    • Respondents from the lower SEG;
    • Female respondents;
    • Respondents with a pre-existing mental health condition.

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

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