Social Activity, Loneliness and Stigma During COVID-19 Outbreak
Purpose
The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the association of quarantine measures for COVID-19 and perceived anxiety, stigma and loneliness and to evaluate the efficacy of interventions in reducing anxiety, loneliness and perception of stigma induced by self-isolation during the outbreak. Specific Aims: In the proposed study, participants will include members of the United States general population who will be randomly assigned to either (a) a vignette to learn about the COVID-19 outbreak, (b) a vignette to learn about the COVID-19 outbreak AND a video aimed at encouraging the use of a digital device (i.e. not in person contact) to meet with friends, (c) a vignette to learn about the COVID-19 outbreak AND a video aimed at sensitizing participants to COVID-19 related stigma, (d) Control arm. Web-based self-report questionnaires will be conducted to compare interventions and control groups. The short and low-cost online module will allow recruitment of a large sample of people. Hypotheses: (1) the video-based intervention groups will demonstrate lower rates of anxiety and loneliness than vignette and control groups, (2) the video-based group that presents an individual with COVID-19 will demonstrate lower rate of stigma than other groups.
Conditions
- Covid19
- Fear
- Loneliness
Eligibility
- Eligible Ages
- Between 18 Years and 70 Years
- Eligible Genders
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- At least 18 years old - Younger than 70 years old - United States resident
Exclusion Criteria
- Less than 18 years old
Study Design
- Phase
- N/A
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Factorial Assignment
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- None (Open Label)
Arm Groups
Arm | Description | Assigned Intervention |
---|---|---|
Placebo Comparator Informational sheet (IS) |
participant receives an informational sheet about COVID-19 |
|
Active Comparator IS + Video Solo |
participants an informational sheet about COVID-19 and a 90 seconds video aimed at sensitizing participants to COVID-19 related stigma |
|
Active Comparator IS + Video Friends |
participants an informational sheet about COVID-19 and a 150 seconds video aimed at encouraging the use of a digital device (i.e. not in person contact) to meet with friends. |
|
No Intervention Control |
No intervention |
|
Recruiting Locations
More Details
- NCT ID
- NCT04734171
- Status
- Completed
- Sponsor
- Columbia University
Detailed Description
Currently, the world is experiencing a Coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19, which originated in mainland China in December 2019, spread rapidly to South Korea and Europe, Italy in particular, between January and March of 2020 and is currently spreading in all continents and has been recognized as a pandemic. It is of high importance to monitor how the trends in COVID-19 outbreak are shaping the social contexts and norms across communities and families. In a time in which individuals all over the world are experiencing quarantine, it is important to evaluate the potential surge of the phenomena of social anxiety, stigma, and of perceived fear and loneliness. Furthermore, it is critical to study interventions that aim to reduce each of these. The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the association of quarantine measures for COVID-19 and perceived anxiety, stigma and loneliness and to evaluate the efficacy of interventions in reducing anxiety, loneliness and perception of stigma induced by self-isolation during the outbreak. The hypotheses will be tested using ANOVA and multinomial logistic regressions. An alpha level of 0.01 will be used to account for multiple testing.