Keep your eyes peeled for invites from our sister study later on in the year. For queries about the RAMP study, please email: rampstudy@kcl.ac.uk. Please note that you may not receive a response straight away, due to the study being closed and limited staff resource.

What does COVID-19 mean for our mental health

Take part in regular surveys and help us research the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of people all across the UK.

We are aware that COVID-19 is taking a heavier toll on BAME communities,who are 10-50% more likely to die from COVID-19 (Public Health England, 2020). We need more BAME voices to help us understand the impact of this on mental health.

For more information, please visit our Diversity Hub and our FAQ section

ABOUT THE STUDY

The Repeated Assessment of Mental health in Pandemics (RAMP) study is a research project assessing the effect of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of the population. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many of us have undergone major changes to our daily lives, such as staying away from friends and family, and limiting time outside of our homes.

We don’t yet know what effect this new situation will have on how we all think, feel and act or the impact on our households, health and lifestyle. With RAMP, we will monitor the mental health and wellbeing of people across the UK during this pandemic and try to understand the impact of COVID-19 so that we can better support people in the future.

You must be a resident of England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland and be over the age of 16 to participate in this study.

When you sign up, you will be asked a series of different questions about your current living situation, your wellbeing and your mental and physical health. We will then send shorter follow up surveys every month and may also send very short questionnaires after major government announcements.

We thank you for your continued participation. It’s as important as ever to continue completing our surveys as we move out of lockdown, to assess how these changes affect us. Keep up to date with our social media and e-newsletter to hear about the latest RAMP data findings.

If you're eligible to participate, you can take part here. You can also download the information sheet.

Follow us or contact us here

TEAM

RAMP is a collaborative effort led by a research team at King’s College London, in consultation with expert clinicians, service users, mental health charities and the NIHR Maudsley BRC. We are very grateful for generous donations of time and effort from many kind individuals.

Research team

Dr Katherine Young

Primary investigator

Dr Kirstin Purves

Core investigator

Shannon Bristow, MSc

Core investigator

Professor Gerome Breen

Co-investigator

Professor Thalia Eley

Co-investigator

Professor Matthew Hotopf

Co-investigator

Keisha York

Research assistant and Diversity consultant

Abigail Ter Kuile

Research assistant

Camilla Ward

Research assistant

Alicia Peel

Research assistant

Jessica Mundy

Research assistant

Dina Monssen

Research assistant

Laura Heggeman - Research assistant, Christopher Rayner - Research assistant and Elizabeth Lee - Research assistant

Our collaborators and supporters

This work was supported by the King’s Together Multi and Interdisciplinary Research Scheme (Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund). King’s Together is a fund by King’s College London to support new research ideas.

With special thanks to the following charities that have supported us in promoting the RAMP study and recruiting participants: Reach Society, Melanin Medics, Dope Black Mums, Dope Black Dads, the Black and Minority Ethnics in Psychiatry & Psychology (BiPP) Network, On Our Mind and BAATN.

RAMP Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement

At RAMP, we recognise that despite reports indicating that profound racial inequalities exist in the UK for accessing mental health treatment, receiving appropriate care, and reaching equal health outcomes, individuals from Black, Asian and ethnic minoritised backgrounds are still grossly under-represented in clinical and health research. This affects our ability as researchers to produce valid and representative knowledge which improves understanding of mental health and adequately informs healthcare practices and policies.

As part of a world leading centre dedicated to academic, educational and research excellence, we are committed to addressing the continued marginalisation of racialised groups in research through the advancement of equity, diversity and inclusion. This includes acting on findings and recommendations from patient and public focus groups and established partnerships with Black led community-based organisations who identified the following:

• Research is valuable when it seeks to action transformative and social change
• Culturally competent and representative teams foster assurance and enhance interaction
• Addressing systemic injustices should be a key action for researchers
• Increasing knowledge and awareness of mental health, research processes and its translation into policies eases apprehensions towards research
• Studies should reimburse individuals for any time or financial losses incurred when participating in research

RAMP have previously and will continue to address these issues by:

• Using patient and public advisory groups to inform investigators on how research findings can be used to support action and social change
• Building collaborative research partnerships with ethnic minority led community-based organisations to ensure a range of perspectives are represented in research processes
• Undertaking diversity training and recruiting researchers of racialised backgrounds on studies
• Volunteering in widening participation schemes, participating in Race Equality Working Groups and providing visible support to causes affecting ethnic minority communities
• Improving public knowledge of research processes and data usage by hosting drop-in-sessions
• Incorporating research budgets for culturally appropriate monetary and non-monetary incentives
• Using public-facing research conferences to provide opportunities for researchers and participants to discuss and present research interests
• Consulting community representatives to acquire insight on methods for addressing potential cultural barriers to future research

More detailed information on our efforts for advancing equity, diversity and inclusion in research can be found here. We encourage all members of our community to get involved in the efforts we are sharing here to ensure that research at King’s is truly representative and useful.

Diversity Hub

With COVID-19 affecting many more individuals from ethnic minority groups, it has never been more important to record BAME voices and experiences to understand what might be causing this and its implications for mental health and wellbeing. Currently, just 0.34% of the almost 10,000 RAMP participants identify themselves as Black, and only 5% of the whole sample identify as any ethnicity other than white. Below are a list of charities and organisations which serve the BME community. Please visit their websites for further support or resources.

With RAMP assessing the mental health and wellbeing impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK, and using our data to potentially inform the government response, taking part will help contribute your voice to national health and wellbeing policies.

We aim to develop long-term partnerships with the various organisations who have supported our work. A key aspect of this will be sharing findings with community partners which we aim to do via newsletters, email and speaking events/discussion sessions. We welcome feedback and suggestions.

RESOURCES

This is a difficult time for everyone, and many may find it overwhelming. If you are being affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, we have collated some helpful websites and sources of help and support.

For researchers

The RAMP team invites collaboration and coordination across studies. Methods and novel scales are available for use by researchers . To acknowledge the use of novel scales, please follow the link and see the Overview of RAMP Procedures document.

Please direct any other questions about the materials to rampstudy@kcl.ac.uk