2 minute read
Summer Scholarship: The effect of COVID-19 lockdown on people with rheumatic disease
Arthritis New Zealand Summer Scholarship recipient Grace Johnstone is in her third and final year of a Bachelor of Science majoring in Psychology at University of Otago.
The project focused on the effect of the first 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on people with rheumatic disease. What they had been through, whether they had had any difficulties obtaining their medications, seeing their clinicians, and other issues.
From their survey, the research team produced two papers - one focused on the perceived risk of infection and COVID-19 related fear, and the other looked at mental health and quality of life.
“In both of those papers, we looked at whether there were specific variables that predicted these outcomes such as what predicted COVID-19 fear, what predicted perceived risk and whether the variables were related to the lockdowns,” explains Grace.
“We found with COVID-19 fear, that being younger in age and being tested for COVID-19 influenced higher rates of fear, which in terms of being tested makes sense because if you’re being tested, you’re either a close contact of someone that has Covid or you’re showing signs of Covid. So naturally, that’s going to influence how anxious you are about the whole pandemic.”
The number of flares experienced by individuals was also a predictor of fear, because the symptoms of a flare are often very similar to the symptoms of COVID-19. In terms of the age cohort most affected by perceived fear and anxiety, the research team had predicted older participants might have been most impacted because of social isolation.
“But we actually found that younger participants had more perceived fear and anxiety,” says Grace. “We’ve taken that as being younger, there’s kind of more stresses related to lockdown, whether that’s looking after family and potentially having to work from home.
“It was kind of interesting going down the age route and seeing what we predicted actually wasn’t necessarily what was happening.” If you’re considering applying for an Arthritis New Zealand Summer Scholarship, Grace encourages you to “go for it!”.
“It’s quite truly the best experience that I’ve been grateful to have because it opens up so many doors. It gives you such an amazing experience into what research is and for me I’m so fortunate and grateful for that because now as a third year, I know I definitely want to do a Masters and a PhD because I love research and I know I’m going to enjoy it.
Arthritis New Zealand will fund up to six Summer Scholarships in 2021/2022 valued at $6,000 each. The purpose of the scholarships is to engage and support students in research in the area of arthritis under the supervision of experienced research professionals.
