At the beginning of the first national lockdown, around 1.5 million people were instructed to shield and around 17.7 million adults aged ≥65 years, who were also at increased risk of infection, were instructed to stay at home as much as possible. Many of these people might not have had support from carers and community resources and/or enough money to be able to access food, nor the ability to prepare meals for themselves. So we realised early on the impact that the pandemic and this lockdown would have on these people accessing nutritious meals. But we also realised that this increased demand for meals will have an impact on Meals on Wheels services (local authority services delivering meals to older, vulnerable and housebound individuals). So we worked closely with different partners to explore this important issue.
We just submitted evidence to an inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee on ‘COVID-19: Supporting the vulnerable during lockdown’, on why Meals on Wheels should be supported by the Government to ensure the wellbeing of older, vulnerable, and self-isolating adults during lockdown. This was based on our qualitative research findings with service providers (drivers who deliver the meals, service coordinators and managers) in two local authorities in South West England. As Meals on Wheels have been facing funding cuts and closures both globally and nationally, these findings are extremely important and provide crucial insights to policy makers for the need to protect, enhance and financially support the continuation of the service, in order to protect the most vulnerable during national lockdowns, and beyond.
During the first few weeks of the first national lockdown, and while we were all adapting to the new restrictions and working from home, I was trying to think of how I can use my skills and research experience to make a difference to people’s lives. I met with a colleague and after a long discussion, he casually suggested I do some reading on Meals on Wheels and establish what the evidence is in this field. I blocked my calendar for two days, read and researched. Within two weeks, we had together a team of four University of Bristol academics, a research associate, two local authorities who agreed to support the project, one national charity to help disseminate the findings, two collaborators from Brown University with expertise in the field and direct links to Meals on Wheels America, a grant application to the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute and noted ideas for future research on this important service. I consider it a triumph that we all met under challenging circumstances but discovered we have a common vision and developed this important piece of research to help the most vulnerable.
We have been working with the ExtraCare Charitable Trust and Cruse Bereavement Care for three years now on a project that is about developing a volunteer peer bereavement support programme and general ‘grief literacy’ for staff and residents in the retirement villages run by the Trust. When the pandemic came, we weren’t able to continue the face to face field work that we had planned. On the other hand, Covid presented us with an opportunity to try out some different methods of data collection and we applied for funding from the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute to collect diaries of the experience of supporting people through bereavement. This turned out to be a great method for gaining the kind of real-time insight into the work and thoughts of the volunteers that we hadn’t really been able to capture before.
The biggest challenge has been that of all researchers who do ethnographic field work – not being able to face to face field work. On the other hand, we’ve learned to be creative in developing other methods. This is also true of another Covid project on collaborative housing (funded by NIHR SSCR) that I have worked on. Above all, I feel so lucky to have been able to work with excellent teams of researchers. Our regular Zoom meetings have really given a shape and purpose to my working week that I may not have had otherwise. Oddly, I think my working with relationships with these colleagues has strengthened during the pandemic.
We were aware quite early on that any lockdown was likely to have an impact on those experiencing domestic abuse. So we worked quickly and closely with Women’s Aid to look at how they could collect data in order to influence policy. A report called ‘A Perfect Storm’ came out in the summer based on a number of surveys with support services, victims and survivors. We found there was an increase in coercive control, with perpetrators using the restrictions as a tool to stop victims from leaving or seeking help. Many people didn’t realise that domestic abuse was an exemption, so they were worried they would be arrested if they left. This, coupled with a stark increase in homicides during the first six weeks of lockdown, showed there was a major issue. Some of our data was used in a Panorama documentary and we were able to feedback these crucial insights to policy makers.
The biggest triumph for me was when Boris Johnson announced the second national lockdown and explicitly said that domestic abuse was an exemption. That was amazing and so important. It felt like we’d come a long way from it not being mentioned or discussed, to it being said to the nation by the Prime Minister. That’s testament to the hard work of people in the sector, collecting data and ultimately presenting evidence to the government to show what’s happening on the ground.
Understanding whether COVID-19 has had a disproportionate effect on more vulnerable child populations, such as children in care, has been identified as a national-level priority by the SAGE committee.
We were already planning to carry out a survey of children in care in 2020 for the ESRC funded study. This therefore provided a real-time opportunity to collect information on mental health and wellbeing of children in care during the Covid-19 pandemic. We were also able to collect information on other aspects of children’s lives, which have previously been associated with mental health such as: the strength of their relationships with carers; their feelings about school; social work support; friends; access to green spaces; access to support; and their wishes and feelings. These are aspects in children’s lives that would have also been impacted by the pandemic.
The biggest research challenge was having to adapt our methodologies to suit the restrictions that came about due to the pandemic. All research fieldwork was stopped by the University as well as Government Departments as we went into the first lockdown. All of us in the research teams were also working alongside extra pressures brought on by the pandemic such as adapting to homeworking, home-schooling and illness within the team. It was also a steep learning curve for us all in digital engagement and communication!
For me, it is a triumph that despite all these challenges, we have been able to support each other with empathy, kindness, and trust through 352 days of home working and teamworking (as you can see, I have not been counting!). Despite the setbacks at the beginning of the pandemic, it is a triumph that we have achieved and celebrated research milestones such as receiving NHS ethics clearance for the data linkage project with no amendments and having 18 local authorities and 930 children and young people opt-in to our research!