Health and Wellbeing under COVID-19: The GreenCOVID Survey
Viveka Guzman, Marco Garrido-Cumbrera, Olta Braçe, Denise Hewlett and Ronan Foley
Irish Geography. 2020. Vol. 53, No. 2.
Objetive
Introduce the survey alongside preliminary Irish results specifically focused on household characteristics, access to nearby green space as well as a measure of psychological wellbeing.
Methods
The original survey was designed by the lead author (Garrido-Cumbrera) from the University of Seville and disseminated online across Spain in March/April, 2020. Researchers in the UK and Ireland joined the initiative and disseminated translated versions of the questionnaire survey in June/July, 2020. For the Irish component, ethical approval was granted by Maynooth University and it was disseminated using an approved online survey tool which generated 261 responses. Participant’s socio-demographic and health characteristics are described by means and standard deviations (SDs) for continuous variables, and proportions for categorical variables. Chi-square tests were used to analyse household characteristics against the distribution of psychological wellbeing and mental health, using the 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index [WHO-5] (WHO, 1998) and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale [K10].
Results
Adults in Ireland perceived that contact with the outdoors and views to green and blue spaces positively impacted their psychological wellbeing, and that this was enhanced during the COVID-19 lockdown. Those living in a household with problems had higher likelihood of lower wellbeing scores, according to the WHO-5 scale.
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