Project description
In the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March-May 2020), the Norwegian government implemented a full lockdown, the Dutch government a partial lockdown (“intelligent lockdown”) while no lockdown was implemented in Sweden. The country-specific containment and mitigation measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have strongly affected citizens’ daily lives. Since no vaccination nor cure for COVID-19 was available at this time, people started looking for self-management strategies to prevent COVID-19 infection and to treat possible COVID-19 infection-related symptoms.
Aims of this study
- To determine the prevalence of consultations with health care providers and use of self-management strategies such as herbal remedies, dietary supplements and self-help techniques for prevention and treatment of COVID-19 related symptoms in countries with a full lockdown (Norway), a partial (’intelligent’) lockdown (the Netherlands) and no lockdown (Sweden) during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic
- To explore if such use correlates with worries of being infected by COVID-19.
How we are conducting the study
Data were collected in collaboration with the global marketing company Ipsos A/S in April-June 2020 during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic among a representative sample of the population in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands using data assisted telephone interviews (Norway, n=990 and Sweden, n=500), and an online survey (the Netherlands, n=1004).
The results of the study are expected to be published in 2021.
Our partners
NAFKAM is collaborating with research teams from the Netherlands (Louis Bolk Institute, Dutch Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, Van Praag Institute, Center for Integrative Psychiatry at the Lentis Mental Health Care Institution) and Sweden ( Regional Cancer Center Stockholm, Umeå University, and Karolinska University Hospital) in this study.
Contact person: Agnete Egilsdatter Kristoffersen
