iCARE Study – About

Launched in March 2020, the worldwide iCARE survey was completed on January 11, 2022.

View timeline of Surveys 1 to 15, including other representative iCARE surveys

The iCARE team continues to lead a Canadian longitudinal survey. Individuals living in Canada are invited to join!

Do you live in Canada?

Join our Canadian Longitudinal Study and tell us how you are coping with the pandemic! Participating in this study involves taking an online survey every 4 to 8 weeks. You can also choose to opt in to a draw for a chance to win a $50 Amazon or President’s Choice gift card. Winners will be drawn at random.

Learn more

The iCARE study is supported by the participation of a large team of international collaborators working in different regions and countries around the world.

LEARN MORE AND SUPPORT THE iCARE STUDY

View results and analyses

New from November: Adherence trends to key health measures for Summer 2021 (northern hemisphere)

New from October: Cumulative results and analyses from Surveys 1 through 10 (March 27 to June 30) on study demographics, participation rates, and to six key health behaviours (66,519 respondents, 175 countries).

Including new results about support for vaccination passports and vaccination intentions.

Browse iCARE Study infographics

The iCARE Study has published a number of infographics to help share findings and analyses stemming from study data. We encourage the sharing of iCARE Study infographics on social media and other platforms, including news media and research forums.

Visit the iCARE media page

We encourage members of the media to contact us.

The iCARE study has received a range of local, national and international media coverage. These news stories have helped raise awareness about the importance of researching and understanding population behaviours and have helped promote participation in the survey.

Visit the research page

The iCARE study is supported by the participation of a large team of international collaborators working in different regions and countries around the world. The iCARE team shares news and more about study results, presentations, and publications as well as knowledge transfer resources.

SUMMARY STUDY DESCRIPTION

The International Assessment of COVID-19-related Attitudes, Concerns, Responses and Impacts in Relation to Public Health Policies (iCARE) study: Can we optimise strategies to flatten the COVID-19 infection curve?

The key to halting the rapid spread of COVID-19 and ‘flattening the curve’ is public adherence to drastic, rapidly evolving behaviour-based prevention policies that are being implemented around the world. However, adherence depends on: being aware of the policies (knowing what to do), believing that the policies being put in place are important; and being able to enact the policies, which may be influenced by various personal, family, job, and health-related characteristics.

Further, as we look towards de-confinement, people’s willingness to adhere to new government policies and recommendations (e.g., re: school openings, store openings) will also be critical for helping people ‘get back to normal’ and re-engaging the economy. Unfortunately, policies have varied greatly between provinces and countries, contributing to uncertainty about what the government’s priorities are (health vs. economy) and confusion about which policies to follow.

Understanding people’s concerns about COVID-19, their perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes about public health policies, and how they impact what people are (and are not) willing to do will be important for informing policy strategy and how they are communicated, to ensure the best health and economic outcomes. The iCARE Study will capture key data on people’s awareness, attitudes, and behaviours as they relate to the COVID-19 policies, as well as, the impacts that COVID-19 is having on people’s physical and mental health, financial situation, and quality of life.

Data from approximately 250,000 people around the world will be analysed to understand what government policies are (and are not) influencing behaviour and outcomes, and in whom these policies are most or least effective. This will allow us to inform governments on the efficacy of policy measures on both people’s behavior, and on key health and quality of life outcomes.

Read the complete study description

The iCARE study has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the CIUSSS-NIM (Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal): approval # 2020-2099 / 03-25-2020.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0