Welcome to the Feel Good Study

Psychological impact of admission with Covid-19 during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: Naturalistic cohort study with a digital intervention

This website contains some information on the study.

The study is currently open to recruitment for anyone who has been in hospital with Covid-19, and has felt an impact on their sleep, mood or anxiety levels.

Background

We know that many people who have been unwell with Covid-19, in particular those who were admitted to hospital, can suffer from symptoms of low mood, anxiety and poor sleep for some time afterwards.

Being in hospital with Covid-19 during the pandemic can be a stressful and emotional experience. As junior doctors working during the pandemic we have seen and shared some of these experiences with you. This is why we have developed this study to offer patients access to a guided self-help audio programme which is used within the NHS to help with symptoms related to anxiety and low mood and to help build resilience. As well as hopefully aiding your recovery, we aim to record and document the impact hospitalisation has had on your mood and anxiety.

 

 

What the study involves

The study is conducted entirely remotely. Participants have access to either a digital application (phone app), MP3 or CDs, and we conduct three telephone interviews over 3 months. The audio programme uses a combination of applied relaxation, cognitive therapy and positive visualisation. Joining the study is entirely voluntary, and before you decide whether to participate or not you will receive a participant information sheet and be able to speak to one of the junior doctors in the study team to ask any questions you have.

 

If you think you would be interested in being involved please email j.dobbin@nhs.net, and a member of the study team can get in touch to give you more information.

Even if you do not choose to take part in the full study, the digital app / audio programme can be made available for free to anyone who would like to use it.

The digital intervention

 

The Feeling Good App contains the evidence based audio programme Feeling Good for Life, which is the new name for Positive Mental Training, a series of 12 audio tracks to help you build essential skills, not only to deal with mental stresses and strains, but to bounce forwards and become mentally stronger and more resilient.

 

This programme can help relax & calm your mind and body, lift your mood, help you feel more positive, let go of worries, sleep better and deal with stresses more easily. It can also help with physical symptoms of stress, such as headaches, irritable bowel, fatigue, and chronic pain. It improves your ability to focus on a task, to feel positive about yourself when talking to others, to perform at your best when you need to.

 

The study will take place over three months. If you agree to take part in the study you will be given a code and password to download a digital app, or posted a MP3 or CDs to listen to at home.

 

You will be asked to listen to two tracks every day for the first 2 weeks. After this, we recommend you listen to one track a day for the remaining period of the study. Each track lasts for approximately 15-20 minutes.

 

If you do not want to download or listen to the app, you can still be involved in the study, and your participation will still be very valuable to our understanding of the impact of coronavirus has on patients’ psychological wellbeing.

 

Please contact j.dobbin@nhs.net with any questions.

UK Chief Investigator: Dr Joanna Dobbin

Study Team

This study is being undertaken by The Royal Free Hospital & University College London.

The clinical research team consists of five junior doctors from the Royal Free Hospital Trust, and Homerton Hospital: Joanna, Paula, Louis, Anusha & Malini. We all have an interest in the mental health impact of Covid-19, and have developed the study to help patients from our trust as well as contribute to wider understanding around this topic.

 

Input into the study has also come from the research and development department at RFH and the department of primary care and population health at UCL.

Bear - Results