Abstract
ObjectivesThis paper outlines fieldwork procedures for Wave 4 of the COVID‐19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study in the UK during November–December 2020.MethodsRespondents provided data on socio‐political attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours, and mental health disorders (anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress). In Phase 1, adults (N = 2878) were reinvited to participate. At Phase 2, new recruitment: (i) replenished the longitudinal strand to account for attrition; and (ii) oversampled from the devolved UK nations to facilitate robust between‐country analyses for core study outcomes. Weights were calculated using a survey raking algorithm to ensure the longitudinal panel was representative of the baseline sample characteristics.ResultsIn Phase 1, 1796 adults were successfully recontacted and provided full interviews at Wave 4 (62.4% retention rate). In Phase 2, 292 new respondents were recruited to replenish the panel, as well as 1779 adults from Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, who were representative of the socio‐political composition of the adult populations in these nations. The raking procedure successfully re‐balanced the longitudinal panel to within 1% of population estimates for selected socio‐demographic characteristics.ConclusionThe C19PRC Study offers a unique opportunity to facilitate and stimulate interdisciplinary research addressing important public health questions relating to the COVID‐19 pandemic.
Highlights
The ‘first wave’ of the COVID‐19 pandemic in the UK was abating by the summer of 2020 (Kontis et al, 2020), and citizens were experiencing respite from the government‐imposed restrictions on social, economic, and educational related activities that had been in place since March 2020 to control the spread of the virus
By December 2020, four survey waves had been conducted for the COVID‐19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study in the UK since its inception at the start of the COVID‐19 pandemic in March 2020
Between April and September 2020, the US COVID‐19 Outbreak Public Evaluation (COPE) Initiative, a large, online longitudinal study (N = 6548, baseline sample) which assesses public attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs relating to the pandemic, and evaluates mental and behavioural health during the pandemic, interviewed participants four times
Summary
The ‘first wave’ of the COVID‐19 pandemic in the UK was abating by the summer of 2020 (Kontis et al, 2020), and citizens were experiencing respite from the government‐imposed restrictions on social, economic, and educational related activities that had been in place since March 2020 to control the spread of the virus. The majority of primary and secondary schools re‐opened for face‐to‐face teaching for all students (UK Government, 2020b) During this time, concerns were raised by public health experts about the potential impact of an if not more, devastating ‘second wave’, evidence of which was already being reported in parts of Europe, which was predicted to hit the UK by autumn 2020 (Academy of Medical Sciences, 2020; Looi, 2020; Mahase, 2020; Middleton et al, 2020). On 2 December 2020, the lockdown was replaced with a revised regional COVID‐19 tier‐ system, which re‐imposed regulations on social gatherings (UK Government, 2020h) On this same date, the UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer‐BioNTech vaccine (Ledford et al, 2020) and the vaccination rollout commenced 6 days later. The Oxford‐AstraZeneca vaccine was anticipated to be approved and subsequently deployed in January 2021 (UK Government Coronavirus (COVID‐19) in the UK, 2021)
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