The Black Dog Institute are conducting an online study to understand how COVID-19 is impacting the mental health of Australian adults, and what people are doing to stay mentally healthy during this time.

I just completed it. Took me 15 minutes. But they will ask me the same questions again in 2 weeks and a month’s time. That is 3 questionnaires and 45 minutes of your time. Not insignificant, but reasonable.

Why would you participate?

Black Dog will use the information they gather from the study to:

• “Guide the information and support we provide to community, and tips and strategies to stay mentally healthy during this time;
• Improve our understanding of how pandemics influence mental health, and identify who is most vulnerable;
• Improve community awareness of the impact of COVID-19 on mental health; and
• Develop better treatments and supports, over the long-term.”

 

Within limits, I think there are significant benefits from participating in research. You might learn something about yourself, and you might get some insights into a field other than your own. For example, if you don’t know much about psychology and mental health, you might find the questions asked in this survey interesting (e.g. you’ll see some questions relating to contamination fears).

And let’s face it. This situation with the Coronavirus is one of the most significant events in recent human history. Understanding the psychological impacts of what we’re experiencing will help us not only in the recovery phase after the virus has been defeated, but also for future events of a global scale.

Anyway, totally voluntary but I thought I’d highlight the opportunity.