Covid-19: The Global Social Trust and Mental Health Study
Welcome, and thank you for your interest in our study!
We are a group of psychologists from University College London (UK) and University of Pennsylvania (USA). We are interested in learning about how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting you and your family’s mental and physical health, and how this may inform policies in the coming months and/or assist in future crisis management strategies as well.
What does taking part involve?
Your participation is completely voluntary. We invite you to complete a 20-minute online questionnaire and shorter follow-up questionnaires on how your mental health changes as the pandemic unfolds. The follow-ups will take place in October-December 2020 and April-July 2021. We will need your email for this follow-up and this will be destroyed once the study is complete. You have the right to withdraw at any time during or after the study should you wish to do so, and your data will be removed. We very much hope that you will take part in this study!
Will anyone know I have been involved?
No. Only our team of researchers will have access to the data. Your data will not be used for commercial purposes. All data files will be encrypted, stored securely, kept confidential, and a unique identification number will be generated for you so that the data cannot be traced back to you in any way.
Could there be problems for me if I take part?
We do not envisage any problems or issues from participating in our study. The questions pertain to your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, so you may find them personal and sensitive. We remind you that there are no right or wrong answers to any of the questions and encourage you to answer as honestly as possible. Should you wish to withdraw from the study, we will destroy your data. Data will be kept for at least 10 years in accordance with the UCL Research Data Repository Guidelines. Should you require additional help, UCL psychological services and the contact details of various UK mental health services are available once you have completed the questionnaire, so you can access extra support.
What will happen to the results of the research?
Any information you give us will be analysed with the rest of the participants’ data. The key results from this project will be published and presented in scientific journals and conferences. Individual data not be presented and pseudonyms will be used where possible to ensure anonymity.
Do I have to take part?
Taking part is your choice. We hope that if you do choose to be involved you will find this a valuable experience. We really appreciate you volunteering your time and contributing directly to our research endeavour and potential policy guidelines in the future.
Data Protection Privacy Notice
The data controller for this project will be University College London (UCL). The University of Pennsylvania will not receive personal data as part of this project. The UCL Data Protection Office provides oversight of UCL activities involving the processing of personal data and can be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk. UCL’s Data Protection Officer can also be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk. Further information on how UCL uses participant information can be found HERE (www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/participants-health-and-care-research-privacy-notice). The legal basis that would be used to process your personal data will be performance of a task in the public interest. The legal basis used to process special category personal data will be for scientific and historical research or statistical purposes/explicit consent. Your personal data will only be processed for as long as it is required for the research project. If we are able to anonymise or pseudonymise the personal data, we will undertake this and will endeavour to minimise the processing of personal data wherever possible. If you are concerned about how your personal data is being processed, or if you would like to contact us about your rights, please contact the principal investigator, Dr Keri Wong in the first instance at keri.wong@ucl.ac.uk.
If you have any further questions before you decide whether to take part, you can email or contact Dr Keri Wong (keri.wong@ucl.ac.uk) or contact@globalcovidstudy.com.
Thank you!
Covid-19: Global study of social trust and mental health 