Woman meditating with mask
Researchers want to find out how the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting our mental health and relationships over time. (BigStock Photo / Antonio Diaz)

Can a daily dose of tips sent to your smartphone help you stay sane during a pandemic? That’s what a study planned by the University of Washington’s Center for the Science of Social Connection and SurveySignal aims to find out.

The UW center’s director, psychologist Jonathan Kanter, said the call for volunteers went out last week. As of today, nearly 1,000 people have enrolled — but there’s still a chance to get involved.

“We are hoping for 2,000,” Kanter told GeekWire in an email. “We will continue to enroll until we are full, which probably will be in a week or so.”

Study participants will be asked to take a short survey on their smartphone, every evening for four weeks. The survey will serve as a quick self-check of each person’s mood, social well-being and health.

Coronavirus Live Updates: The latest COVID-19 developments in Seattle and the world of tech

“Participants will get suggestions from our center providing simple, evidence-based tips for daily activities and exercises to improve mental health and relationships,” Kanter said. “Some participants will get these tips on a daily basis, but all will get them at the end of the study.”

Two final short surveys will be sent out at the eight-week and the 16-week mark to wind up the experiment.

Kanter said the nationwide experiment was sparked by a similar study that focused on the effect of social distancing on 500 people in Seattle and King County.

“Our data on King County residents suggests good news and bad news,” he said. “People are remarkably adaptive — even if we are not used to adapting to this level of change — and most people appear to be coping and adjusting well.  That said, many are also struggling.  Substance use has increased for a substantial amount of people, for example, and stress, loneliness and depression are higher than we want.”

The new study will be “aimed not just at monitoring people but also at trying to help,” Kanter said.

Participants must be U.S. residents, 18 years or older, with access to a smartphone that can receive the texts and surveys. The center is seeking additional funding to support the fast-track research, but you need not pay up to participate.

The COVID-19 Coping Study isn’t UW’s only research project studying the pandemic’s psychological effect on people. Another project, known as the King County COVID-19 Community Study, has been collecting data and personal accounts from King County residents to gauge how well they’re coping with the coronavirus outbreak. That study is open through April 19.

“I think this issue is so important that it is good that multiple researchers are trying to understand the issues from multiple angles,” Kanter said in his email. “The main differences between that study and our study are that 1) our study is a national sample, not just King County, and 2) our study offers tips for improving well being in addition to just checking in with how people are doing.”

The tips aren’t the only potential benefits coming from the COVID-19 Coping Study: Amazon gift cards worth $50 will be raffled off to participants, with entries doled out on the basis of how many surveys get completed.

Update for 10 a.m. PT April 23: Dan Rosen, professor and chair of the Department of Counseling and Health Psychology at Bastyr University in Seattle, is a co-investigator and collaborator for the study.

Participants can sign up for the COVID-19 Coping Survey by filling out an online form. Questions about the experiment or the signup process can be sent to covidcoping@uw.edu or research@surveysignal.com.

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