Wednesday, July 8, 2020

The Pandemic Project, part 3

Back in March, I posted about my voluntary participation in a survey from the University of Texas. The Pandemic Project is studying how people's lives are being affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, how they are coping and how reactions are changing over time. When I responded to the first survey, I consented to be contacted for followup, and I received an invitation to complete a second survey in May (and posted about the results here).  

I consented to be contacted for another follow-up survey, and received (and completed) my third survey today. :)  The surveys take about 15-20 minutes to complete, and at the end, you receive scores in certain categories and suggestions on coping strategies (which can be emailed to you). 

It's been interesting to track my scores in the same categories from survey to survey to survey! 
  • On a scale of 0 to 10, my Social Connection score was 7.3, which is higher than average. "This is a very good sign given the restrictions on social behavior," I was told. This is the same score I received in the second survey in May.  In the first survey, my Social Connection score was not quite as high -- 6.2, or average. 
  • My COVID Obsession score was 6 this time around -- in the mid-range. My score here has dropped considerably -- from a whopping 10 out of 10 in the first survey in March (!), to 7.1 in the second. This is a good thing, I think. ;)  Nevertheless, I've still been advised that "In the days and weeks ahead, it might be healthy to pull back from your habits of watching all of latest news, rumors, theories, and stories about the outbreak... Watching or reading too much news about the coronavirus is bad for your health." 
  • My Healthy Habits score was 5.4 -- which means that my general health habits are about average. In other words, my life style is generally good but there is still room for improvement. This score was actually down from 6.2 in the first two surveys. (We DID start walking again more regularly since the last survey -- but the weather over the past week or two has been way too hot & humid to spend much time outside exercising.) 
  • My COVID-related Anxiety and Distress score was 7.3 -- the same score I received in the second survey -- mid-range, and similar to the average person. "Your score suggests that you have some anxiety and distress about the outbreak which makes sense." My score on the first survey was 6.6, which was also said to be average.
Did you take the quiz?  What did you learn from your results?  (If you haven't taken part yet but this has piqued your curiosity, check it out here.) 

4 comments:

  1. I just got my third invitation, too, but I haven't answered yet. I will soon. I'm glad you told me about this back in the spring. It's fascinating.

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  2. Thanks for the link - I completed this as well. My social connection score was a 10, which, really?!? I feel more isolated than ever, but guess that shows the dire situation we're in. My health score was lower than I thought it would be. I think many people are working out every day. I can't right now because of recent surgery. Oh well!

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  3. I did this when you first mentioned it, and got a very high social connection score - because a lot of my social life is on my computer!! - and a surprisingly (considering I felt obsessed) low obsession score. I've just done it again now to compare, now that we are out of lockdown. Social connection still high, healthy habits about 7 (having just had visitors I haven't done a lot of exercise recently apart from walks with them). Obsession around 5. If they hadn't asked which country I came from, I wouldn't have done the survey, as my NZ results would not apply to some of their questions! I feel a bit of a fraud - my concern level is 2, and relates only to int'l travel and whether we can keep it out of NZ.

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