BACKGROUND
Behavioral mitigation strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in sweeping lifestyle changes, with short and long-term psychological, well-being, and quality of life implications. The Attitudes About COVID-19 and Health (ATTACH) study focuses on understanding attitudes and beliefs whilst considering the impact on mental and physical health and the influence of broader demographic and geographic factors on attitudes, beliefs, and mental health burden.
OBJECTIVE
In this assessment of our first wave of data collection, we provide baseline cohort descriptives of ATTACH study participants in the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), and Mexico. Additionally, we assess responses to daily poll questions related to COVID-19 and conduct a cross-sectional analysis of baseline assessments collected in the UK between June 26 and October 31, 2020.
METHODS
The ATTACH study uses smartphone-app technology and online survey data collection. Participants completed poll questions twice daily related to COVID-19 and a monthly survey assessing mental health, social isolation, physical health, and quality of life. Poll question responses were graphed using 95% Clopper-Pearson (exact) tests with 95% confidence intervals. Pearson correlations, hierarchical linear regression analyses, and generalized linear models assessed relationships, predictors of self-reported outcomes, and group differences, respectively.
RESULTS
By October 31, 2020, 1405, 80, and 90 participants had consented to participate in the UK, USA, and Mexico, respectively. Descriptive data for the UK daily poll questions indicated that participants were generally following social distancing measures, but worry and negative impacts on families increased as the pandemic progressed. Although participants generally reported feeling that the reasons for current measures had been made clear, there was low trust that the government was doing everything in its power to meet public needs. In the UK, 1282 participants also completed a monthly survey (95% white, 72% female, 21% key or essential workers). Nineteen percent of UK participants reported a pre-existing mental health disorder, 31% reported a pre-existing chronic medical illness, and 35% were over 65. Fifty-seven percent of participants reported being more sedentary since the pandemic began, and 41% reported reduced access to medical care. Those with poorer mental health outcomes lived in more deprived neighborhoods, in larger households (ps < .05), had more pre-existing mental health disorders and medical conditions, and were younger than 65 years (all ps < .001).
CONCLUSIONS
Communities who have been exposed to additional harm during the COVID-19 pandemic were experiencing worse mental outcomes. Factors including having a medical condition, or living in a deprived neighborhood or larger household were associated with heightened risk. Future longitudinal studies should investigate the link between COVID-19 exposure, mental health, and sociodemographic and residential characteristics.
Assessing the quality of research: preparing for REF2021
