Help with our COVID-19 research

About this study

We think it is important to consider the widespread influence that the COVID-19 crisis is having on our society. At NCMH we are trying to understand more about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on individuals with lived experience of mental illness.

If you decide to take part, we will ask you to provide us with some basic information about yourself, your mental health, wellbeing and your experiences related to COVID-19. There is no obligation to take part.

If you’re new to our research, we want to identify people who would be willing to be approached about taking part in future mental health research projects.

To take part

Our researchers are currently working on a new survey for this research but you can register your interest in taking part and we’ll get in touch when it’s available.

What will I have to do?

Taking part is voluntary: it’s up to you to choose if you want to sign up.

If you choose to sign up, you’ll be asked whether you would be willing to:

Provide us with your email address and some personal information (e.g. date of birth, ethnic group and employment status).
Answer some questions about your mental health and your experiences of COVID-19. This will take approximately 20-25 minutes.
Allow us to contact you at regular intervals with follow-up questions related to the COVID-19 crisis. How regular we contact you will depend on how the crisis develops but will be no more than once a month.
Allow us to share anonymous information with other researchers if they have scientific and ethical approval for the questions that they would like to answer.

We will use your answers to improve our understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and to help influence policy.

We’ve gathered together some information on organisations that you can contact if you need some support.

New participants to NCMH research
Once you have completed the survey, you can choose if you would also like to sign up to keep in touch about NCMH activity and be approached about other opportunities to participate in research. If you agree, you’ll be asked whether you would also be willing to:

Provide us with additional contact details (e.g. name, address, and phone number).
Allow us to contact you in the future about other studies that you may want to take part in. There will be no obligation for you to take part in these future opportunities.
Allow us to contact you every 6-12 months, to invite you to provide more information about your mental and physical health and your lifestyle.

If you agree to this further contact, you can choose if you want to take part in any of the questionnaires, studies, or events that we tell you about when we get in touch with you.

FAQs

Looking for more information first? We’ve put together the answers to some frequently asked questions.

Who is doing the study?

This survey is led by the National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH). NCMH is a Welsh Government funded Research Centre, led by Cardiff, Swansea and Bangor Universities. It is being funded by Health and Care Research Wales, Welsh Government. The Director of the National Centre for Mental Health is Professor Ian Jones.

How can I join the study?

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

We hope that by learning more about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, we will be able to inform experts and policy, leading to new and improved ways of recognising and providing support in times of need. However, these remain long-term aims and you will not benefit directly from taking part in this study.

What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

Who will have access to my information?

Only the study team will have access to your data. Only the study team will contact you directly.

All information collected during the course of the research will be kept strictly confidential. There are strict laws that safeguard your privacy at every stage.

In accordance with the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), your information will be kept confidential by assigning a unique study code to your data. Your email address will not be passed on to anyone and will be stored in a separate location to the rest of your data. Your name and identifying information will not be passed on to anyone.

What questions will I be asked now?

When you agree to take part, you will be asked to provide your email address. You will also be asked to answer some questions about your mental health and your experiences related to COVID-19.

New participants to NCMH research:
If you decide to agree to hear about new studies, you will also be asked to provide some additional contact details.

How long will it take?

First you need to agree to take part in the survey. This involves reading this information and then consenting below. This should take about 5 minutes. Take as much time as you need to decide whether you wish to take part.

Once you have joined, you will be asked some questions. This should take about 20-25 minutes to finish. We know that it’s best if you are able to complete these questions in one go, but if for some reason this isn’t possible then you can come back to the website later because you can save your answers once you have finished a set of questions.

How often will I be contacted?

As this study is looking at the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, you will be contacted at regular intervals with follow-up questions. How regular we contact you will depend on how the crisis develops but will be no more than once a month. Sometimes we will ask for information that you haven’t given before. Sometimes we will ask you the same questions as before so that we can see how things have changed.

New participants only
As well as this regular contact, the study team may contact you from time to time, to ask you to take part in new studies. You may be contacted because of something that you have told us about (for example, your age).

These studies may be conducted by other research teams, but only the NCMH team will contact you directly. We will give you more information about these studies including why the research is being carried out, what you might be asked to do and how to sign up.

It is up to you to decide whether you want to take part in these new studies. It won’t affect your participation in the overall NCMH COVID-19 survey if you prefer not to get involved.

Can I decline or withdraw from the study?

You do not have to take part in this study.

If you do decide to take part, you are still free to withdraw at any time without giving a reason. If you do decide to withdraw from the study, all details you have provided will be destroyed. These will not be used further in the research.

What happens when the study has finished?

This is a long term study that will allow us to learn about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health. The information you provide will be stored for use on a long term basis (at least 15 years).

You will not have any claim to any future commercial use of results from the study in which your data has been used. To make best use of resources we will share data (anonymised to exclude any personal details) with different groups of researchers from the NHS, universities and commercial companies, both within the UK and abroad. However, we would stress that those organizations will never obtain access to personal/ identifying information (for example, your name, address, date of birth).

Who has reviewed the study?

Can I discuss the study with somebody independent of the project?

To take part

Our researchers are currently working on a new survey for this research but you can register your interest in taking part and we’ll get in touch when it’s available.