Survey exploring the wellbeing of young people during the COVID-19 outbreak

The University College Dublin (UCD) School of Psychology, in collaboration with the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Children’s and Young Peoples’ Services Committee (CYPSC) and Healthy Ireland, are running an online anonymous survey examining how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 12-25 years.

The results of this study will be used to inform youth services on how to better support young people.

If you’re aged 18-25 follow the survey link to take part:

18-25 survey link

Under 18? You need your parent’s or guardian’s permission, so they need to click on this link:

link for parents /guardians to give consent

Background and Purpose

The study is being conducted through an online anonymous survey is to find out more about how the COVID-19 outbreak may have affected young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Some questions will also ask about particpant’s knowledge of COVID-19. Young people must be between 12 and 25 years old.

How do I take part?

Those aged between 12 and 25 years old can take part in the survey. Participants younger than 18 years old, will only be able to take part if your parent/guardian has given permission for them to do so. It will take approximately 30 minutes to answer all the questions.

What will happen to the results of the study?

The results of the study will be used to describe the knowledge that young people of different ages have about COVID-19 and how this outbreak may have influenced their well-being. The survey results may help to inform youth services on how to better support young people. These results may be published in academic journals and presented at academic conferences and seminars.

How will data be used?

The anonymous data will be stored and archived as a dataset which will be managed by Dr Niki Nearchou at University College Dublin. This anonymous dataset may be used by students as part of their studies. It may also be shared with other researchers interested in this topic. It may be presented in reports, conferences, and scientific publications. It is important to remember that as data are anonymised, it will not be possible to identify any participants. The anonymous responses might be retained even if the survey has not been completed.

Confidentiality & Privacy:

All information will be collected anonymously making it impossible to identify individual answers. All information will be stored securely in password protected computers and encrypted files. Children have a right to privacy while filling out this survey.

Voluntary Participation:

It is understood and perfectly acceptable that some young people may want to participate in the study and others will not. Participation is completely voluntary. It is possible to withdraw at any time while the information is being completed, by closing the page on the web browser. However, once the questionnaire has been filled in and ‘submit’ has been pressed, it will not be possible to withdraw from the study because it is anonymous so it cannot be retrieved from the main dataset.