The Norwegian COVID-19, Mental Health and Adherence Project (MAP-19)

The Norwegian COVID-19, Mental Health and Adherence Project (MAP-19) project is a large-scale longitudinal epidemiological investigation examining the connection between non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs) employed against the SARS CoV-2 virus and mental health symptoms in the general adult population. The project further investigates the role of personality, contextual pressures, and psychological mechanisms tied with adherence to concurrently employed NPIs and viral mitigation behaviours.

The project is initiated and led by the three University of Oslo and Modum Bad Psychiatric Hospital Researchers, Omid V. Ebrahimi, Sverre Urnes Johnson and Asle Hoffart. It has been featured widely in the international pandemic literature, across national news platforms, and has been central in the understanding the mental health sequelae related to the pandemic.

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About the MAP-19 project

The MAP-19 project aims to: 

• Inform policymakers, the general public, scientists, and health practitioners about the psychological implications tied to the COVID-19-related government-initiated measures. 

• Provide a foundation for policymakers and health-care professionals to employ interventions that protect the general public against psychological stressors accompanying the pandemic. 

• Help policymakers better understand the associations of demographic variables and psychological symptoms with adherence to viral mitigation behaviours, providing an understanding of adherence rates and its central covariates to help society fight against the COVID-19-virus by finding actionable targets that facilitate adherence viral mitigations behaviours.

• Investigate the mental health status in vulnerable and at-risk subgroups in the population during the COVID-19 pandemic, including health-care professionals, politicians and social workers.​

Project group

The project is led by researchers from the University of Oslo and Modum Bad Hospital. The project description, analysis plan and its ethical aspects was approved by The Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics (reference number: 125510) and the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (reference number: 802810) on the 25th of March 2020.​

Large-scale longitudinal study spanning over 3 years

The data collection for the MAP-19 project began on the 31st of March 2020, two weeks after non-pharmacological interventions were employed against the COVID-19 virus nationally in Norway.

Longitudinal repeated-measures and high-dimensional data on 10 061 participants are collected to date (March 2023) with a total of 50 measurement time-points over a 3-year period across all major infection waves of the pandemic. Specifically, 10 main waves of repeated-measurements panel data are collected, accompanied by an additional 40 days of intensive longitudinal repeated measurements data to date.

Systematic and pre-defined rationale toward timing of assessments

The study employs a pre-defined and systematic rationale to the timing of assessments across its 3 year period. The 10 main data collection waves are conducted with the aim of inspecting robust associations of mental health with pandemic mitigation protocols, where data at each wave is collected approximately two weeks following modification of pandemic mitigation protocols. Additionally, the study is designed to keep expectation effects constant, with a stopping rule implemented in the design to immediately end data collection if any new information is provided by the government during data collection concerning forthcoming changes of pandemic protocols. 

Publications so far (to be updated):

Published Apr. 21, 2020 2:11 PM - Last modified May 19, 2023 2:17 PM

Participants

  • Omid Vakili Ebrahimi University of Oslo
  • Sverre Urnes Johnson University of Oslo
  • Asle Hoffart University of Oslo
Detailed list of participants