How do different confinement measures affect people across Europe?

In less than a month, COVID-19 has profoundly changed our daily habits all over Europe. If no country on the old continent has been spared by the pandemic, some of them responded quite differently to contain its spread. While Italians could only leave their home for basic necessities, the French were allowed to be a maximum of 2 kilometers away from their houses, and Belgians could keep on sporting outside as long as they were alone. The Netherlands and Sweden did not opt for a total lockdown and kept bars and restaurants open.

Europeans are facing very different situation depending on their country of residence. Some saw their social interactions drastically reduced while others were moderately impacted. What are the consequences of social distancing measures on some aspects of our lives? Two researchers and their teams from the University of Luxembourg, Conchita D'Ambrosio and Claus Vögele, are launching an on-line questionnaire to compare the impact of different quarantine measures on the European population. 
«The changes we have been through have been so drastic, intense and sudden, that they must have some impact on our mental health, sooner or later. With our study we aim to understand what characterizes those individuals who manage their life better in the current situation” explains Conchita D’Ambrosio, an economist expert on the study of individual well-being. “Even if a great majority of people seems currently to be doing well and coping with the situation, this may not be the case for everyone”, adds Claus Vögele (psychologist and member of the advisory group set up by the government to assess COVID-related measures in Luxembourg.) He questions: “What about the most vulnerable ones? People who don’t have coping resources, who barely get by under normal circumstances? What about those who need social contact to survive this situation?”  
Social support and social contact are among the most important protective factors for mental health and well-being. Previous research has shown that social isolation resulting from preventive measures has a substantial negative impact on mental health. Yet it remains unclear which factors predict the levels of psychological distress caused by social isolation. What role play factors such as our personality, resilience, health anxiety, and emotion regulation for the way we cope with the situation? What are the effects of our socio-economic and demographic characteristics (e.g. housing, living conditions, education, economic status, family composition) on health outcomes during confinement?

200 questions, 6 countries, now and later

To answer these questions, the researchers created a survey of about 200 questions and are now looking for participants in Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Sweden to answer their questionnaire at least twice. “It takes approximatively 30 minutes to complete it” says Claus Vögele. “There are, of course, questions concerning how one is dealing with the current measures, but also questions on one’s health, personality, or personal situation. It’s very different to experience the confinement in Italy where you couldn’t leave your house than in Sweden where very little changes were put in place”, explains Conchita D’Ambrosio. 
Impacting today’s decisions, improving tomorrow’s prevention 
Through this research, they not only hope to understand better how we all respond in times of crisis but also to provide advice to decision and policy makers. “In the short term, this research project will enable us to compare the effects of the different confinement measures. This will allow us to better understand the psychological mechanisms associated with adverse events but also to support the development of prevention strategies to improve health outcomes in future, similar situations. In addition, the expected results will increase our understanding of how to adequately support individuals in the aftermath of the current and future crises” underlines Claus Vögele. 

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