About the project
Standing together – at a distance: how Danes are living with the corona crisis
We are in the midst of an unprecedented health crisis. A crisis triggered by the coronavirus, but its implications reach far beyond the scope of virology. Across the world, people are being asked to isolate and quarantine themselves, businesses are closing down, curfews have been introduced, and we are all supposed to wear face masks and keep a safe distance from one another. There is a need to document and investigate the mental-health effects of the preventative measures that are being implemented to contain the virus. You can read more about the project’s central aims and our research collaborations below.
Although researchers have begun studying Danes’ reactions to the so-called ‘corona crisis’, there is a lack of knowledge about how the chosen public-health measures are impacting mental health. Specifically, how is the pandemic together with the particular Danish combination of relative economic security, a lockdown of certain societal functions, and only partial restrictions on movement affecting mental health?
To address this, our research team initiated a series of timed online surveys and qualitative interviews to document the effects of the Danish lockdown on mental-health indicators over time. During the first societal lockdown that began in March 2020, our data collection focused on how the public-health measures affected worries, quality of life, social isolation, social relationships, and everyday behaviour within three groups: the general population, families with children living at home, and older people (aged 65 and above).
The Trend Direction Index (TDI) for the period 20 March to 16 April 2020, indicating the probability that the population average of each mental-health indicator was increasing or decreasing at specific time points. Click to enlarge
Our preliminary results suggest that, during this period, people in Denmark seem to have managed the lockdown without alarming changes in their mental health. In particular, the qualitative interviews documented significant variation in people’s experiences, suggesting that the lockdown’s effects on everyday life were very different depending on people’s individual life situations. While many found their lives deprived of elements they typically enjoy, others described the lockdown as a ‘shift in gears’ that allowed them to change focus and reflect on what is meaningful. However, the survey data also indicated that, in particular, young people aged 16 to 29 had a lower quality of life and suffered from loneliness due to social-distancing measures and other restrictions.
In the second period of data collection, which began on 10 September 2020, we are asking 250 different people from the general population (aged 18 and above) to answer our Copenhagen Corona-Related Mental Health (CCMH) questionnaire every other week. We are also conducting follow-up interviews with some of the people we spoke with during the first months of the pandemic to learn how they are handling the prolonged preventative measures. Moreover, we are planning to interview additional participants with a particular focus on young people to investigate how they are managing the ongoing social restrictions.
This project aims to provide insight into people’s experiences of social isolation, worries, loneliness, and quality of life as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Denmark. Collecting these data will allow us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the crisis and the effects of the preventative measures being instituted around the world. Our research may also elucidate the long-term effects of the societal lockdown in Denmark, which may inform governments and health authorities in how to manage both the current and future pandemics more effectively.
The ‘Standing together’ project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between three leading research environments: the Section of Epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen, the Center for Medical Science and Technology Studies at the University of Copenhagen, and Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen. We are also working with the Medical Museion and the Center for Healthy Aging, both based at the University of Copenhagen.
We have also established a collaboration with the Danish newspaper Politiken to present the project’s findings from a journalistic perspective. In this way, the project is both documenting the effects of the crisis as well as helping the public to understand and adapt to a quickly changing situation.
We have also collaborated with:
Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen and the Danish Diabetes Association
Politiken
The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC)
Research project: Concerns among pregnant women during COVID-19
Danish Cancer Society
Velux-funded partners
DaneAge
COVID-minds network
Those of us working on the project Standing together – at a distance care about your privacy and data security.
This means that we comply with all aspects of the current General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the highest ethical standards for academic research. The information you choose to share with us will be handled professionally, and the data will be stored safely and securely. The data we collect will be used exclusively for scientific purposes. All personal data connected to the publication of results from the questionnaire and the interviews will remain strictly anonymous.
If you want to know more or have any questions about how the project handles personal data or ensures anonymity, you are welcome to contact our data manager: liks@sund.ku.dk
Read more about your rights and GDPR: Information on GDPR from the European Parliament
Funding
The Velux Foundations award more than half a million kroner to our data collection
On 30 April 2020, the project Standing together – at a distance: how Danes are living with the corona crisis received a grant of DKK 545,000 from the VELUX FOUNDATIONS.
This grant was awarded as part of the VELUX FOUNDATIONS’ special pool for data-collection projects related to studying Covid-19. The Foundation’s Board of Directors awarded a total of DKK 5.5 million to 13 projects anchored in the humanities and social sciences that are exploring how the Covid-19 crisis affects our lives and communities. Read more about the grant recipients here (in Danish).
A condition for the grant is that the Standing together project contact other relevant grantees from the pool to coordinate and collaborate on the data collection as much as possible. This will ensure that maximum synergy can be achieved, and that comprehensive data material on the societal, cultural, and social consequences of Covid-19 is gathered.
Grant recipient Klaus Høyer, Professor at the Department of Public Health, said: “By working together to create complementary projects and share insights, we can look forward to learning much more – both about the Covid-19 virus [SARS-CoV-2] itself, and about the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches, methods, and forms of analysis that we each contribute to understanding its impact.”
Another condition of the grant is that, as much as possible, full accessibility to the data collected must be permitted so that it can be used by other data-collection projects. It is the Foundations’ hope that, with this grant, the Standing together researchers will help to gather and make available a comprehensive and wide-ranging database that will contribute to research projects that subsequently obtain a deeper understanding of the societal, cultural, and social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For more than 35 years, the VELUX FOUNDATIONS have supported ageing, ophthalmological, and humanities research as well as social and cultural projects that contribute to a sustainable society. Read more about the VELUX FOUNDATIONS here.
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