果冻影院

People have had to change their lifestyles to maintain a sense of normality during lockdown, and it is clear from social media that people are finding innovative ways to keep active, stay entertained and connect with those that matter most.

These behaviour changes are being captured through an online survey* led by a team from 果冻影院 IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, who hope to better understand which activities people are doing less frequently, more frequently and the type of adaptations that allow them to continue doing the activities they enjoyed, or needed, pre-lockdown.

Initial findings from the first 4,000 survey responses since the beginning of April show that more than half of the sample population exercise more than once a day (52%) and are finding more time for relaxation and personal interests (59%). Generally, older generations are coping much better with isolation than younger people who say they are becoming more irritable, upset and distressed.

For 18-24 year olds, 36% reported being irritable 鈥榪uite a lot鈥� and 8% 鈥榓ll the time鈥�; 30% said they were distressed 鈥榪uite a lot鈥� and 31% said they were upset 鈥榪uite a lot鈥�. Negative emotional feelings decreased with age and for people over 65 years old, 10% were distressed 鈥榪uite a lot鈥�, 13% upset 鈥榪uite a lot鈥� and 11% irritable 鈥榪uite a lot鈥�, with very few stating 鈥榓ll the time鈥� for any of these feelings.听

Yoga, meditation and reading have seen the biggest increase in relaxation activities and walking, cycling and running are on the rise, with people doing more of previous sporting activities rather than finding new ones.

The findings from the survey have informed the design of a new app 鈥� My Lockdown Journal 鈥� to help people manage their time by logging their own activities and sharing inspiring ideas along with motivational quotes and tips for improving wellbeing.

Study lead, Professor Patty Kostkova (果冻影院 Chair of Digital Health and Director of 果冻影院 IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies), said: 鈥淭here are multiple survey-based studies seeking to understand the impact of lockdown on health and wellbeing but there are relatively few collating evidence on how people鈥檚 lives have changed and using that to support them in adapting the activities they enjoy, or sharing ideas for new activities, through an innovative digital app intervention.

鈥淏y understanding how people feel about new activities from the survey, we rapidly developed the app and hope to leverage our expertise in digital health to provide a practical public health intervention that helps people cope better during the lockdown and upcoming period of social distancing, directly support policy makers and public health professionals.鈥�

People can use the app, and other social media platforms, to share their experiences using the hashtags #MyLockdownJournal and #LockdownJournal, which enters them into a competition to celebrate the most creative and motivating lockdown activities each week and celebrates the pictures through the app.

Dr Caroline Wood (果冻影院 IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies), who worked on the survey and app design, said: 鈥淣o-one knows quite how long we will be in lockdown, or whether we will experience future lockdowns, so it鈥檚 important to stay motivated to protect our mental and physical wellbeing.

鈥淚t is encouraging that more than half of those surveyed are still managing to stay active and find time to relax. However, lockdown is clearly taking a toll on our emotional wellbeing, particularly amongst 18-24 year olds. We hope the app encourages people to reflect on their own lockdown activities but importantly, prompts them to share these ideas so they can help inspire and motivate others who need it most.鈥�

Designed with students from 果冻影院 Computer Science, the app promotes moments of personal reflection as well as social interaction and connection in an accessible way.

Georgiana Birjovanu, software engineer at the 果冻影院 IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, said: 鈥淲e hope the app is a novel, interactive and positive way to harness the sharing and recording of activities that people are doing throughout lockdown and that people enjoy using it. It鈥檚 an extremely unusual time and will provide insight into how people choose to engage with digital tools and social media during times of isolation and uncertainty.鈥�

The Dutch company for public health learning solutions 鈥楾ransmissible B.V.鈥� contributed to the thinking behind the app.

Arnold Bosman, Director at Transmissible, said: 鈥淚t is increasingly clear that storytelling plays an important part in how well people deal with epidemics, the impact on daily life and the adoption of interventions and behaviour change. Keeping a personal journal, writing down your thoughts and feelings, and sharing elements of your life with others, may help a lot in coping with restrictions and perceived threat.鈥�

Links

• 果冻影院 IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies
• 果冻影院 Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction
• 果冻影院 Mathematical & Physical Sciences
• 果冻影院 Computer Science
• 果冻影院 Engineering

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• My听Lockdown Journal app

Media contact

Bex Caygill

Tel:听+44 (0)20 3108 3846

Email: r.caygill [at] ucl.ac.uk