Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health

Last registered on May 11, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009419
Initial registration date
May 10, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
May 11, 2022, 12:39 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Fordham University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
One Health Trust
PI Affiliation
University of Pennsylvania
PI Affiliation
One Health Trust
PI Affiliation
Population Council

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-04-01
End date
2022-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased mental health concerns around the world. While there are several papers linking COVID-19 to mental health, causal evidence on the topic remains limited. In this paper, we study the impacts of COVID-19 on mental health using priming techniques. We exogenously vary the salience of COVID-19 crisis among rural households in India to examine the effect of the pandemic on mental health.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Batheja, Deepshikha et al. 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health." AEA RCT Registry. May 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9419-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The COVID module/treatment will collect information on how COVID-19 impacted the target population on four major categories: containment restrictions, health concerns, food security and economic impact.

Questions on containment restrictions - question J1 in the Appendix: This question captures the 3 most difficult physical containment restrictions.

Questions on health impacts - questions J2-J7: These questions capture COVID-19 infection incidence and/or death in the household in addition to general worry about potential infection of the virus since March 2020.

Questions on food insecurity - questions J8-J10: These capture COVID-19’s impact on hunger in the household, food quantity and availability.

Questions on economic impacts - questions J11-J17: These questions capture the overall economic impact on earnings, job loss, sale of assets, loans, household finances and other setbacks.

Intervention Start Date
2022-04-01
Intervention End Date
2022-07-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Happiness, Depression and Anxiety
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Attached PAP

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We exogenously vary the salience of COVID-19 crisis among rural households in India to examine the effect of the pandemic on mental health.
Experimental Design Details
See attached PAP.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in CAPI.
Randomization Unit
Individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
3000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1500 in treatment and 1500 in control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Our sample size will have approx. 3000 individuals (with 1500 in treatment and 1500 in control group). And with this sample, assuming 90% power and 5% Type I error rate, we will be able to detect a minimum effect size of at least 0.12 standard deviations for our outcomes on happiness, depression, and anxiety, assuming a 26% prevalence of depression and anxiety in the control group (Witteveen and Velthorst, 2020). We will also be able to detect an effect size of 0.12 sd assuming a depression score of 0.26 sd in the control group. This effect size is conservative and aligns with what is observed in the priming literature in economics (Mani et al., 2013; Bartos et al., 2021a). Even with a sample size of 2148 observations – once again assuming 90% power and 5% Type I error rate, we will still be able to detect a small effect size of at least 0.14 standard deviation in the outcome variables.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Fordham University
IRB Approval Date
2022-03-23
IRB Approval Number
2013
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials