COVID-19 has had a huge impact on all of us in some way. It has meant we have had to change how we do everyday things and a lot of what we do looks different now to a few years ago. COVID-19 has affected the Making Positive Moves research meaning that there have been lots of barriers along the way that we have had to manage.
How COVID has affected Making Positive Moves
The global pandemic has affected us all, with wide ranging consequences on our health and wellbeing, our economies, our social lives, and on the environments we live in. At Making Positive Moves, we have noticed the impact of COVID as well, and this blogpost will highlight the ways in which our research has been affected. I’ll first talk about the effects of COVID on recruitment, then on the ability of people to take part, and finally about the pros and cons of conducting interviews online.
Recruitment
When a potential participant is contacted, and their contact details are passed to the research team, it can be incredibly difficult to set up an online meeting. Participants often don’t have access to a personal computer or laptop, and therefore use one belonging to the service, or to a member of staff. Often a research meeting is postponed due to staff absence or the laptop not being available that day. This can delay the meeting by up to a week, and when it happens multiple times, our 4-week research process turns into a much longer one! Even when we do manage to meet online, there can be problems with the sound, or the internet quality, and participants (understandably) feel frustrated.
Taking Part in Research during COVID
COVID has been challenging for us all, and staff working in the supported living services where many of our participants live, face large stress loads. In the second interview, participants often choose a member of staff to act as the key support person (KSP) (see the ‘Project update – January 2022’ blog for more information about our interview process). Staff facing high levels of stress means that research is, with good reason, not their highest priority. However, for us, this means that this second interview can be difficult to organise, and often ends up being postponed.
People feeling anxious about the COVID situation has also affected their willingness to take part in our research at all. Taking part often involves talking about their experience of hospital and remembering such a difficult time in their life can be challenging. Heightened levels of anxiety and uncertainty due to COVID therefore mean that some people feel that it is not the right time for them to take part in our study.
Face-to-face and Online interviews
Although most of our interviews have been conducted online, we have conducted some face-to-face. I personally find that it’s easier to get to know someone face-to-face, and that conversation flows more easily. Being in that person’s environment helps; for example, making a comment about a poster on someone’s wall can open up a conversation about something really important to them. In addition, some of our participants find it too difficult to talk to someone on a video call and are only willing to take part if we can meet them face-to-face.
However, there are disadvantages to interviewing in person, especially in COVID times. For example, wearing a mask means that it’s harder to communicate and harder to hear what people are saying. Travelling to someone’s home to conduct an interview takes up most of the day, whereas interviewing online takes only around an hour. Lastly, changes to government and university COVID guidance means there is a continual need to assess whether we can even meet in person, and what rules we need to follow if we do.
Conclusion
During the height of the pandemic, it’s been more difficult for us to recruit and contact participants. COVID has also had an impact on the way we conduct interviews. Despite the challenges, we have done our best to ensure that everyone who wants to take part, can.
Thank you for reading! If you would like to get in contact with us please use the links below.
