COVID-19 Social Study

Exploring the psychological and social effects of the pandemic on the UK population.

The COVID-19 Social Study was the largest study exploring the psychological and social effects of the pandemic on the UK population. Despite the availability of extensive literature on social isolation and its consequences, enforced social isolation in the form of lockdowns for COVID-19 were unique in many features, sharing only some similarities with quarantine measures used during previous epidemics. In addition, the unprecedented nature of the virus’s fast global spread made the social and psychological effects of COVID-19 unpredictable.

Our aim was to map how mental health and wellbeing changed alongside social restrictions, case rates, and death rates on an ongoing basis. Specifically, we set out to:

  1. Understand the psychological and social impact of COVID-19
  2. Map how the psychosocial impact evolved over time as social distancing and lockdown measures were introduced and eased
  3. Determine which groups were at greatest risk of adverse effects
  4. Explore the interaction between psychosocial impact and adherence to healthy and protective behaviours
  5. Identify protective activities during isolation that could buffer against adverse effect

A rich set of resources, media articles and over 100 published papers can be found at
www.covidsocialstudy.org/

Watch:

Dr Daisy Fancourt summarises key findings and impact from the COVID-19 Social Study, 4 Oct 2022

Summaries and resources

Read our summary report here of key findings: https://www.covidsocialstudy.org/final-report


Policy and media

The research team has given over two dozen keynote speeches, presented at conferences around the world, and informed 1,000 media pieces. We have also consulted to the Cabinet Office, multiple government departments, the World Health Organization, and more than 100 third sector bodies. Today, the COVID-19 Social Study is one of the most widely used social science datasets from the pandemic informing national policy.

The Study won the ‘Outstanding Societal Impact’ Prize in 2022 from the Economic and Social Research Council.

In 2021 we were also commissioned by Arts Council England to use data from the study to look at how the pandemic affected audiences and arts behaviours, as well as exploring how and why the arts helped people to cope during the pandemic, and more. Read the report here.


Funder

Nuffield Foundation, Wellcome Trust, UKRI

Programme area

Behavioural science

Status

Completed

Investigator

Dr Daisy Fancourt, Professor Andrew Steptoe

Timescales

2020-2023

Key contact

D.Fancourt@ucl.ac.uk