Researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University have published one of the first studies revealing the full impact of COVID-19 on mental health on different groups of people living in the UK.
The COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study was conducted with colleagues from Queen’s University Belfast and began on March 23, 2020 - the day the UK government announced the first national lockdown.
The study involved conducting an online survey of 1958 UK adults and collecting data from participants three times over the first 12 weeks with the aim of identifying patterns of anxiety, depression and COVID-19-related traumatic stress (CV19TS) symptoms.
Researchers found that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on people’s mental health in different ways - people who had low but stable mental health symptoms; people who had high but stable symptoms; people who had symptoms that improved over the period of the study; and, people who had symptoms that declined.
Two thirds showed low and stable self-reported mental health symptoms which lead author and GCU Head of Psychology Dr Kerri McPherson says reflects “considerable resilience to the unprecedented demands of lockdown”.
Co-author and Senior Lecturer in Applied Health Psychology Dr Kareena McAloney said one of the most interesting findings was that women seemed to show more resilience as time went on – starting off anxious but improving significantly over time, and their levels of PTSD were much lower than in men.
Read the full research paper - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178121004340
GCU Professor in Ageing and Health Dawn Skelton was one of the experts behind new data predicting that the number of falls among older adults could increase due to a decline in balance and muscle strength caused by inactivity during the first lockdown.
The report ‘Wider Impacts of COVID-19 on Physical Activity, Deconditioning and Falls in Older Adults’ has just been published by Public Health England.
Professor Skelton is a member of the National Falls Prevention Coordination Group (NFPCG) and was on the advisory group for the report, giving her guidance and advice throughout.
She explained: “The report predicts that 110,000 more older people (an increase of 3.9%) are projected to have at least one fall per year as a result of reduced strength and balance activity during the pandemic, with a cost of £211 million to the health and social care system.
“Older people experienced a considerable reduction in strength and balance activity between March-May 2020, with the greatest change in the 70-74 age group with a 45% (males) and 49% (females) decrease observed in activity.”
Professor Skelton was also part of an expert panel behind a report published last year calling on the government to look into the physical and psychological effects of lockdown on older people.
The report - 'A National COVID-19 Resilience Programme' - was produced by The Physiological Society and the Centre for Ageing Better. It has been published online here and shared with the UK Parliament at a Parliamentary Committee.
The report calls for the government to consider the potential physical and mental health effects of lockdown on older people and explains the physiological reasons why older people being less active and less socially engaged will have a huge negative effect on health but also on healthcare resources with an increase in falls, depression and loneliness.
It urges UK public health agencies to launch a National COVID-19 Resilience Programme to support older people through the pandemic and to keep them healthy over the winter.
Key recommendations include encouraging appropriate exercise and physical activity; supporting optimal nutrition; enhance mental health and wellbeing; and supporting behaviour change to embed these behaviours.
It also recommended televised physical activity opportunities, paper-based programmes and Make Movement Your Mission classes for those on Facebook or who can access You Tube.
Regular physical activity cuts the risk of dying from infectious diseases such as COVID-19 by 37 per cent and reduces the chance of catching the virus by 31 per cent, according to new global research.
The research carried out by an international team of researchers, led by Glasgow Caledonian University’s Professor of Health Behaviour Dynamics Sebastien Chastin, also found that physical activity can boost the effectiveness of vaccines by up to 40 per cent.
GCU conducted the full-scale systematic review of 16,698 worldwide epidemiological studies published between January 1980 and April 2020 with world-renowned immunologists and epidemiologists from University College London (UCL) and Ghent University (UGent) in Belgium, exercise and sports scientists from Cádiz University in Spain and a public health consultant from NHS Lanarkshire (NHSL).
The research found that 30-minutes of activity five days a week or 150-minutes per week that gets you slightly out of breath such as walking, running, cycling and strengthening exercises can have a massive impact on immunity to infectious diseases such as COVID-19.
Scientists concluded that it can result in a “31 per cent decrease in the risk of infectious disease such as COVID- 19, a 37 per cent decrease in the risk of death as a consequence of infectious disease such as COVID-19 and an increase in the efficacy of vaccination against viral disease such as COVID-19.”
Professor Chastin said they found that physical activity “strengthens the first line of defence of the human immune system and a higher concentration of immune cells” in the world’s first study into the link between exercise and COVID-19 immunity.
The research entitled ‘Effects of regular physical activity on the immune system, vaccination and risk of community acquired infectious disease in the general population: Systematic review and meta-analysis’ has been published in the Sports Medicine journal.
The findings have already gone to the Scottish Government and other governments around world as well as public health experts and healthcare professionals.
Professor Chastin said: “This research is hugely significant and could help to cut the number people contracting COVID-19 and dying from it. It is the first piece of research that proves regular physical activity protects you against infectious disease.
“We found that regular exercise where you get out of breath boosts your immunity to infectious disease by 31 per cent and it increases the number of immune cells in the body in the first line of defence which is the mucosal layer of antibodies. These cells are responsible for identifying foreign agents in the body without depressing the rest of the immune system so it’s perfectly safe and protects you against infectious disease.
“We also found that if you add physical activity to your vaccination programme it increases the potency of the vaccination. We are recommending a 12-weeks physical activity programme before vaccination which could result in 20 to 40 per cent more effective immunisation.
“Our findings have already gone to the Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, Public Health England, the South African and Belgian governments, FIFA, and many other organisations. Policymakers need to do everything they possibly can to fight this disease. This is not a panacea but another cheap tool we can use to protect the public.
“The promotion of physical activity and access for all to physical activity pursuit are paramount. Campaigns to inform the public of the benefit of physical activity in fighting the pandemic should be undertaken.”
Other GCU researchers involved in the study were physical activity experts Dr Philippa Dall and Ukachukwu Abaraogu, sport and exercise psychologists Dr Elaine Duncan and Dr Joanna McParland, and respiratory specialist Dr Nicola Roberts.
They worked closely with UGent’s Professor of Exercise Physiology Jan Bourgois and exercise immunity expert Jasmien Dumortier, Mark Hamer, Professor of Sport and Exercise Medicine at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH) at UCL, exercise and sports scientist David Jimenez Pavon from Cádiz University and NHS Lanarkshire Consultant in Public Health Dr Jennifer Darnborough.
Professor Chastin advised the public to build regular physical activity into their weekly routine to help them fight off the COVID-19 virus.
“Our research shows that if you are active – engaging in 150-minutes per week or 30-minutes five days a week protects you against the risk of infectious disease. You don’t need to go to a gym, as dancing around the living room, going for a run or walk is just as effective. In this period of pandemic being outside is better than in a gym or closed environment,” said Professor Chastin.
He added: “The clear message is stay active – it’s not only good for your mental and general health but we now have the proof that it is also good for boosting your immunity. You need to keep it up as it’s about regular exercise and making time to build it into your day.”
Click here to watch a short animation video about the research and read the full paper here.
Employers have a moral duty to protect the mental health and wellbeing of their staff and create more compassionate workplaces in the wake of COVID-19, according to leading HR experts.
The pandemic will have a "substantial and real" effect on how employers treat staff in the years to come with managers now encouraged to check on the welfare of individuals and teams at regular intervals.
In an article for the journal Advances in Developing Human Resources, Dr David McGuire, of Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), warns remote working has had a significant impact on the health, wellbeing, and career prospects of some employees.
For some workers, a lack of informal social engagement has increased loneliness and isolation and exacerbated mental health concerns. Employers who build working environments based on care and compassion, with robust support in place for employees, are more likely to succeed in the post-pandemic world, experts predict. Figures show lockdown has disproportionately affected women and minority communities, with 60% of key workers being women, rising to almost 80% within the health and social care sector.
The article, Reshaping HRD in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Ethics of Care Approach, co-written with academics from Western Carolina University and the University of the West of Scotland, is available via Sage Journals.
A new study involving Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) researchers has shown that face-to-face alcohol treatment support is crucial for older adults.
During COVID-19 alcohol services had to move to remote help and the study shows this limited their ability to fully meet the needs of their older service users in particular.
Dr Paulina Trevena and Professor Lawrie Elliott, researchers in GCU's Department of Nursing and Community Health, carried out a qualitative study of alcohol services in the UK with the University of Bedfordshire’s Institute of Applied Social Research.
The study, ‘Addressing the needs of older adults receiving alcohol treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic’, was commissioned by Drink Wise, Age Well, a programme led by We Are With You. Leading UK drug, alcohol and mental health charity, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, We Are With You, works with more than 100,000 people in over 120 locations across Scotland and England.
The research explored the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on older service users, including on their alcohol consumption; how alcohol services have adapted and supported older service users, and how staff experienced these changes; the short and long-term implications for service provision, and how service responses could be improved. Dr Trevena said one of the key findings from the qualitative study was that face-to-face contact is crucial for older adults.
A number of recommendations were made which will help to improve and shape services in the future, and inform governments on what works best for older adults’ alcohol provision. Among the recommendations for future service provision were to maintain accessible and flexible phone support for older adults; that remote service provision should be provided in addition to, rather than instead of, face-to-face support; to strengthen links with existing community health and social care services to prevent older adults falling between services and ultimately preventing unnecessary hospital admission; and to ensure older adults who wish to engage online are adequately supported to do so.
Find out more about the study here.
