DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-8900-2
title: COVID-19: Supporting Parents, Adolescents and Children during Epidemics (Co-SPACE), 2020-2023
title: Co-SPACE study

description: &lt;p&gt;The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to families' lives in many ways, including through lockdowns, social distancing, home learning requirements, and restrictions. This resulted in a rapidly changing situation where different pressures have arisen for children, young people and their families over time. Understanding the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and young people, through the collection of high quality data and in a way that could directly inform policy, was set out as an immediate research priority in a Lancet position paper (Holmes et al., 2020) at the start of the pandemic. The Co-SPACE study was launched on 30th March 2020, a week after the first national lockdown was implemented in the UK, with the purpose of using the findings to inform resources and support for families. It was then extended in 2022 under the project on 'Learning from the trajectories of mental health challenges for children, young people and parents over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic' in collaboration with the CORONA x CODOMO project in Japan (run by Dr Naho Morisaki at the National Center for Child Health and Development).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Co-SPACE project aimed to:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;track participating children and young people’s mental health throughout the COVID-19 crisis,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;identify what protects children and young people from deteriorating mental health (over time, and at particular stress points),&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;determine how this varies according to child, family and environmental characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Co-SPACE study, overall, involved an online longitudinal survey completed monthly from March 2020 to July 2021 by (i) UK-based parents/carers of children and young people (aged 4-16 years, at the start of the study), and (ii) their children (if aged 11-16 years, at the start of the study). Additional, longer-term follow-ups were then completed 6-monthly in March/April 2022, October 2022, and March/April 2023 by parents who took part in the original Co-SPACE survey. To develop a richer understanding of people’s experiences, qualitative interviews were also conducted with parents/carers, young people, and people who work with them. The current data available includes parent/carer reported survey data only.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The study was designed and conducted with rapid and meaningful stakeholder involvement, including through in-depth discussion with advisory groups of experts, young people, and parents/carers. Parent/carer and young people's involvement was facilitated through the UKRI Emerging Minds Research Network Plus.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition to the Principal Investigators (PW, CC, &amp; SS), contributors to the study were as follows: Praveetha Patalay, UCL; Helen Dodd, University of Exeter; Pete Lawrence, University of Southampton; Simona Skripkauskaite, University of Oxford; Samantha Pearcey, University of Oxford; Adrienne Shum, University of Oxford; Amy McCall, University of Oxford; Olly Robertson, University of Oxford; Bettina Moltrecht, UCL; Eoin McElroy, Ulster University; Lowrie Hilladakis (nee Burgess), University of Oxford; Ning Ding, University of Oxford; Martha Oakes, University of Oxford; Naho Morisaki, National Center for Child Health and Development .&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Further information, including research reports, are available from the Co-SPACE project website.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Latest edition information&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For the second edition (January 2025), the study has been updated to include three new waves of data collection conducted between
March 2022 and March 2023. The data and documentation files have been replaced with new versions.&lt;/p&gt;