About
Aims of the research
We aim to assess the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on people’s health and help-seeking behaviour and how behaviour might change as the pandemic runs its course. We are:
- Carrying out a large UK survey of attitudes and behaviour relating to recent symptoms, screening and health behaviours (smoking, alcohol, diet and physical activity) in August/September 2020 and again six months later.
- Conducting interviews with some participants to understand their health and help-seeking behaviour in more depth, in August/September 2020 and again six months later.
- Recruiting people who are less likely to take part in research studies, such as men, people from ethnic minority backgrounds and people who smoke.
- Linking with the electronic health records of study participants in Wales, to assess the number of GP referrals and tests, whether people have taken part in cancer screening, whether people who smoke have quit, and the number and stage of new cancers diagnosed.
Our study findings will be used to develop clear public health messages encouraging people to act on any concerning symptoms, consider taking part in cancer screening and engage in healthy behaviours. We believe this will help to reduce the negative impact of coronavirus in the longer-term.
Background to the research
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on public attitudes towards health and help-seeking for serious conditions such as cancer is likely to be considerable. For example, cancer referrals fell by two thirds in April 2020, leading to concerns that people may not be seeking help.
Our 18-month research study will look at how the coronavirus pandemic has affected people seeking medical help for symptoms or taking part in screening and healthy behaviours. Working closely with researchers at Cancer Research UK, King’s College London and the University of Surrey, the study will assess public attitudes and behaviours and how these have changed over time.
The research team will share rapid results with the NHS, public health agencies and charity organisations to create new and relevant public health messaging.
Please note: if you notice unusual changes or something that won’t go away, always speak to your doctor.
Ethics
The study has been approved by the School of Medicine Research Ethics Committee at Cardiff University (reference SMREC 20.68).
Public involvement
Our lay partner Ms Julie Hepburn is a member of the CABS study management group. She is the Lead Lay Research Partner for the Wales Cancer Research Centre. We also work with the PRIME Centre SUPER group who help to develop and road test our study materials.
Sharing the study results
We produce short reports summarising our key findings. The reports are shared with key partners including cancer charities and NHS bodies to inform the development of national health awareness campaigns. The reports are publicised through HealthWise Wales and the Cancer Research UK website, and shared on social media. We also prepare formal reports of the study findings for publication in academic journals. We work with the UK press to share study insights with members of the public.
How we protect participants’ privacy
Everyone working on the study will respect participant privacy. We have taken very careful steps to make sure that participants cannot be identified from their survey or interview responses. All data are anonymised by removing potentially identifiable information such as names and places.
All personal data will be processed according in line with Article 6(1) and Article 9 (2) (a) of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.
If you have taken part in the study and would like to withdraw from the study after providing contact details, please contact CABS-COVID19@cardiff.ac.uk.
Funding
We were awarded funding for £689,813 from UK Research and Innovation to carry out this study (grant reference ES/V00591X/1).
