Explain in words the changes in your physical activity/ exercise over the three periods.  
The Contribution of Physical Exercise to Mental Health Among University Students During COVID-19 Lockdown in the UK.

 
I) Brief background and main research aim(s) (200-400 words).

Provide a sense of what is already known about this topic, what is missing from our knowledge, and how your research is justified in terms of its contribution to the literature. In other words, state the rationale of your project.
Since March 2020, worldwide, countries began implementing a strict control on movement to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in order to relieve pressure on key workers. UK measures included the closures of educational facilities; bans on social gatherings; the closure of retail; all sporting and exercise facilities; and a strict limit on contact with others (1). A global survey on youth and COVID-19 was conducted on 12,000 young people aged 18-29 in 2020 and found the impact of COVID-19 to be systematic, deep and disproportionate (2,3) the UK have added and reinforced this message through Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) who warn that individuals aged between 7-24 are at risk of being disproportionally harmed by the global pandemic. For many young people this includes the psychological impacts that isolation and disrupted educational provisions and attainment has caused at critical timepoints (4, 5). Dewa et al. (2021) found that, for those aged 16–24, mental health has significantly worsened since lockdown, and dysfunctional coping strategies, such as substance misuse, sleep problems, and self-blame are associated with this (6)

 

There is currently limited research on the impact that lockdowns have had on young people’s exercise behaviours and how this relates to mental health. This proposed research aims to contribute to the literature as it will explore exercise behaviours and mental health throughout these periods of lockdown.

 

Research hypotheses-

–        There will be a significant difference in physical activity/ exercise behaviour between the three time periods

–        There will be a significant difference in self-reported mental health and wellbeing before during and after lockdown.

 

Qualitative Research Aims

–        To investigate the relationship between mental health and exercise during COVID

–        To investigate the impact lockdown has had on exercise behaviours and mental health

 
II) Method.

a) Participants

Who are your target participants, what is your target participant group size, and why? (also state if there are any exclusion criteria, e.g., “individuals who do not exercise” and explain why you have an exclusion criteria)?
 

My target participants are university students who experienced lockdown in the UK.

 

My target group size is between approximately 50 participants, this will provide sufficient power for quantitative analysis and for qualitative data from the open-ended questions.
b) Recruitment procedure

How are you going to recruit the participants (e.g., via the UWE Psychology Participant Pool, social media, or snowballing)?
Recruitment will be done through the UWE Psychology Participant Pool

 
c) Data collection method(s)

What is your research design and method(s) of data collection? e.g., Quantitative: computer-based task, questionnaire, experimental design; Qualitative: interview, focus group, survey, story completion task, or vignettes; Mixed-method
My research design will be mixed design.

The quantitative section will include a quantitative questionnaire measuring both exercise and mental health. There will also be a series of open ended questions, this will be open response, qualitative data.
d) Materials/measures

What materials and/or equipment will be used (e.g., name or description of the task(s) or questionnaire(s), EEG, interview, focus group, survey questions, or SCT/vignette).
The qualitative section of the questionnaire will consist of four questions

 

1)     Explain in words the changes in your physical activity/ exercise over the three periods.

2)     Explain why there is/ isn’t a change.

3)     Explain in words the changes to your mood over the three periods.

4)     Explain why there is/ isn’t a change.

 

The quantitative section will use the IPAQ short version three times based on different time periods and the PANAS over the same three time periods.

 

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of personality and social psychology, 54(6), 1063.

 

Craig, C. L., Marshall, A. L., Sjöström, M., Bauman, A. E., Booth, M. L., Ainsworth, B. E., … & Oja, P. (2003). International physical activity questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Medicine & science in sports & exercise, 35(8), 1381-1395.
e) Procedure

Briefly describe your procedure, including how long it will take to complete the study and how many participant pool credits participant will be allocated (note that 0.5 credits are allocated per 30 minutes).
The questionnaire should take 30 minutes to complete therefore 0.5 participation points will be allocated.

 
III) Data analysis

State what data analytic procedure(s) will you use? (e.g., Quantitative: multiple regression analyses, ANOVA, Chi-square; Qualitative: thematic analysis, IPA, discourse analysis)
 

For the quantitative data repeated measures ANOVA will determine main affects of lockdown on exercise behaviour, with post hoc comparison t-tests performed if main effects are found.

 

For the qualitative data thematic analysis will be used.

 
IV) References (list approximately 5-10 references related to your research topic):
1-     Flynn, D., Moloney, E., Bhattarai, N., Scott, J., Breckons, M., Avery, L., & Moy, N. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Health Policy and Technology, 9(4), 673-691.

 

2-     Douglas, M., Katikireddi, S. V., Taulbut, M., McKee, M., & McCartney, G. (2020). Mitigating the wider health effects of covid-19 pandemic response. Bmj, 369.

 

3-     International Labour Organisation (ILO). (2020). COVID‐19 and the World of Work: Country Policy Responses.

 

4-     Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. The lancet, 395(10227), 912-920.

 

5-     Viner, R. M., Russell, S. J., Croker, H., Packer, J., Ward, J., Stansfield, C., … & Booy, R. (2020). School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(5), 397-404.

 

6-     Dewa, L. H., Crandell, C., Choong, E., Jaques, J., Bottle, A., Kilkenny, C., … & Aylin, P. (2021). CCopeY: a mixed-methods coproduced study on the mental health status and coping strategies of young people during COVID-19 UK lockdown. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(4), 666-675.

 

 

  1. Specific Questions on Key Ethics, Risk and Data Management Procedures

 		 Explanation (complete all boxes)
How will you obtain informed consent from the participants?

 

 

 

 

 

 I will obtain informed consent by providing a consent form alongside an information form to all participants via Qualtrics. This will give participants all the information they need and inform them on the aims and method of the study and are aware of what they will be doing.
How will you ensure confidentiality and/or anonymity for participants?

 

 

 

 

 I am not taking any details that will result in identification. In order to identify individuals data I will get them to generate a code on the first question on the questionnaire which will represent their data.

 
Data management

a) How will you ensure secure management and disposal of data collected from participants?

b) How long will participants’ data be kept, and why will you keep the data for the stated period of time? (You must keep all of your data, except participant contact details, until you have received notification of your final degree classification from UWE).

 

 Hard copy research material will be kept in a locked and secure setting and digital data will retrieved and removed from the Qualtrics online survey platform and be stored on the University’s secure OneDrive system to which only the student and their supervisor. The researcher will then delete all electronic data, including demographic details.

their email will then be deleted (including from the deleted items folder) in order to ensure confidentiality is maintained

Contact details will be destroyed once the dissertation has been completed and your data will be held until 30/08/2022

 
Withdrawal procedures

a) How can participants withdraw and is there a point after which their data cannot be withdrawn from the study?

b) What will happen when they do?

c) How will confidentiality will be considered?

 

 Participants can withdraw by emailing the researcher or supervisor within 15 days of completing the study.

The researcher will then delete all electronic data using their generated code, including demographic details.

their email will then be deleted (including from the deleted items folder) in order to ensure confidentiality is maintained

 
What kind of health and safety issues have you considered that may impact the participants and researchers or anyone else by this study?

 

 We don’t anticipate any particular risks with participating in the research; however, there is always the potential for research participation to raise uncomfortable and distressing issues. For this reason, we will provided information about some of the different resources which are available to participants.

 

 

The Contribution of Physical Exercise to Mental Health Among University Students During COVID-19 Lockdown in the UK.

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET

  1. A) Introduction

You are invited to take part in student research undertaken at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Before you decide whether to take part, it is important for you to understand why the study is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Take time to decide whether you wish to take part. Thank you for reading this.

If you have any queries or would like more information please contact the student researcher Ashley Fouracres, Psychology, UWE, Bristol. Ashley2.Fouracres@live.uwe.ac.uk. The student researcher is under the supervision of Dr James Byron-Daniel. The supervisor’s profile is available at https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/JamesByron-Daniel

 

  1. B) What is the purpose of this research?

This project aims to explore how physical exercise has contributed to mental health and well-being during lockdown. It will look at your exercise behaviour pre, during and post lockdown and look at the relationship between exercise behaviour and mental health.

 

  1. C) How will the research be done and what will I have to do?

You will be asked to complete an online questionnaire where you answer a series of questions. The questions will cover your exercise behaviour pre, during and post lockdown and ask questions on your wellbeing and mental health. We anticipate that it will take about 30 minutes to complete the survey. After completing the surveys main questions, you will be asked a series of questions about yourself (e.g., age, gender etc.) to help the researcher understand something about the range of people taking part in the research. However, all data will be anonymised once analysed and when being referred to. If you are a first- or second-year UWE psychology student, you will be awarded 0.5 participation credit. Your participation will enable the researcher to develop an understanding of an important psychological issue and complete the dissertation component of their degree. If the subject of mental health becomes sensitive or you relive how you felt in the moment in a negative way, then please see the sources of support at the bottom of this information sheet.

 

  1. D) Why have I been asked to take part? What about the right to withdraw?

You have been invited to part as a student at the University of the West of England. The target audience for this research is university students. Your participation in this study is completely voluntary and if you decide to take part, you are still able to stop your participation without giving reason. After participating in the study, you will have 15 days to request the withdrawal of your data. This timeline is essential to minimise any possible impact that the removal of your data may have on the ongoing data analysis and