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Supporting the research response to COVID-19: The COPE Cymru study
Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related policies on physical health and psychological wellbeing is a high priority for government and public health agencies.
How people respond to, and are affected by, the pandemic is influenced by an array of psychological and socio-demographic factors. These need to be understood when designing and implementing public health interventions to minimise harm across the population.
In doing so, PRIME Centre Wales will contribute to Welsh Government’s strategic aims of preventing ill health, with a focus on person-centred approaches to improving health and wellbeing in line with the Wellbeing and Future Generations Act and Welsh Government’s ‘A Healthier Wales: Our Plan for Health and Social Care 2019’. The project also aligns with the Chief Medical Officer for Wales’ statements relating to the importance of research in order to learn from past events to prevent future pandemics, and understanding wider effects of COVID-19 on health and society in Wales, including effects on health inequalities (Protecting our Health, CMO Report, 2021).
The COPE Cymru study is a longitudinal cohort study, using a combination of research methods to understand attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of a large cohort of the Welsh public in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In March/April 2020, an inter-disciplinary team carried out an online survey of 8,942 people recruited through HealthWise Wales, an online public recruitment platform for health research. Follow-up surveys and interviews were conducted. The COPE Cymru team received a grant from Sêr Cymru to support research on this project between August 2020 and March 2021. The COPE Cymru team represents a multidisciplinary collaboration between Cardiff University and Cardiff Metropolitan University, as well as lay partners as recommended by the UK Standards of Public Involvement. PRIME colleagues involved are Dr Natalie JosephWilliams, Dr Anna Torrens-Burton and Prof Fiona Wood.
Since setting the cohort up in Spring 2020, the team has completed data collection for baseline, 3-month follow up and 12- month follow up, with analysis ongoing. They have published a study protocol paper as an open access article on Figshare. There are also a number of other papers in draft format or submitted for publication. Papers led by PRIME colleagues include vaccine hesitancy and patient safety in primary care and experiences of using NHS services during lockdown. PRIME staff members have also been invited to give presentations at the Society of Academic Primary Care meeting on patient reported safety concerns during the pandemic and public attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine.
The COPE Cymru team has provided Welsh Government and Public Heath Wales with study updates and briefings. These will be extended as analysis progresses. For example, the team’s work on vaccination hesitancy is identifying key reasons for vaccine refusal and could help to improve communication around the vaccine in order to improve uptake. Further information on the study is available at: www.copestudy.yolasite.com
