A840: Tracking the short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the health and wellbeing of Australian women

Tracking the short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the health and wellbeing of Australian women

Approved: 2021

Collaborators:

Prof Deborah Loxton
Prof Julie Byles
Prof Gita Mishra
Ms Peta Forder
Dr Amy Anderson
Ms Natalie Townsend
Mr Dominic Cavenagh
Ms Isabelle Barnes
Ms Emma Byrnes
Ms Katherine Tuckerman
Mr Nick Egan
AProf Leigh Tooth

Synopsis

The impact of COVID-19 on the individual and how this will evolve over time is largely unknown, while the long term impact of COVID-19 and resultant life changes are also uncharted territory. ALSWH responded by offering an ongoing brief COVID-19 survey to women in the three youngest cohorts, deployed fortnightly over a six month period during 2020, with follow-up surveys planned for 2021. The purpose of the survey was to ascertain who had experienced COVID-19, who had been tested for COVID-19 (or not), their general health and stress levels, and the impact of COVID-19 on women's lives. This project combines the COVID-19 survey data with main survey data to evaluate the impacts of COVID-19 on health and wellbeing (such as physical health, mental health, health service use, etc), while accounting for factors such as SES, residential area, history of trauma, etc that also influence health and wellbeing.