Trial Description

Title

Handling and coping with the corona pandemic (Covid-19) and its physical and psychological effects

Trial Acronym

CoPa

URL of the Trial

[---]*

Brief Summary in Lay Language

The study analyses the health and psychological impact of the measures taken in the context of the corona pandemic to slow down the spread of the corona virus, to protect public health and not to overburden the German health system. To this end, adults are being asked several times online how they deal with the current corona pandemic, how they cope with it and what their health and psychological burdens are, in order to gain insights into helpful courses of action and, if necessary, to be able to derive recommendations for future similar extraordinary situations.

Brief Summary in Scientific Language

The health emergency of international proportions declared by the WHO in January 2020 due to the corona pandemic has also led to far-reaching government measures in Germany, which are intended to slow down the spread of the SARS CoV-2 virus in order to protect people's health and not overload the capacities of the German health system. Representative surveys indicate an increase in fears and concerns among the population associated with the pandemic. So far there is hardly any systematic scientific evidence on this. In the past, it has been shown that epidemics lead to a significantly increased stress level in the population and that the coping capacities of society as a whole correlate negatively with the epidemic-associated event frequency. In a recent report, the International Red Cross lists numerous fear reactions to a pandemic. These can be repressed and mutually reinforcing when dealing with infectious diseases. It is to be feared that as a result of the pandemic mental illnesses will be reactivated, exacerbate and their incidence will increase. Experts have published a number of recommendations for primary and secondary prevention of anxiety and stress in the general population. These are based on publications by the WHO on the COVID 19 pandemic, the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and the International Red Cross. Against this background, the study aims to evaluate the health and psychological impact of the measures taken in the context of the corona pandemic to limit the spread of the corona virus. To this end, adults are repeatedly asked online how they are coping with the current corona pandemic, how they cope with it and what their health burdens are, in order to gain insights into helpful courses of action and, if necessary, to derive recommendations for future similar exceptional situations.

Do you plan to share individual participant data with other researchers?

Yes

Description IPD sharing plan:

An anonymised survey data set can be requested after the study via the study officer.