The Project

The goal of this project was to conduct a research study on the "Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Mental Health" and prepare a case study report that can be submitted to and published in academic journals.

“Everyone from 3-year-old children to working professionals had their lives disrupted by this unprecedented event on a global scale, this made us want to delve into this subject for research. There wasn’t much research on the long term mental health implications of the pandemic, so we thought of covering it in our paper. ”  - Dr. Sameer Agarwal

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The Journey

The moment the volunteers matched, they had an online conversation with one another. This is where Pradnya and Rishav instantly clicked and realized that they could work well together. They then scheduled a meeting with Dr. Agarwal, to discuss their deliverable and what the NGO needed them to work on. Once they understood the work, they divided the work among themselves and filled in the project tracker provided by Tata. “This kept us on schedule and ensured we completed our project on time,” Pradnya mentioned.

Their strategy to tackle the task at hand was for each of them to come up with their own formats for the research report separately at first, and then merge them at a later stage. This way they could combine both the reports to create a better format. Since Rishav had no prior experience in research report writing, Pradnya explained to him the jargon and the prerequisites required for a research report. They made sure they set the right expectations for themselves and for the NGO. In addition, the E-Module, provided by Tata, really helped them understand and work efficiently on the project. 

During the first meeting with the volunteers, Dr. Agarwal realized that the volunteers were very enthusiastic and had a zeal to work on the project. They had scheduled meetings once  every 15 days to keep the communication going and to have a status update on the progress made. The team would send their manuscripts via email to Dr. Agarwal for review timely, and he would communicate his feedback over WhatsApp or during their next call. He recalled that this regular communication was what kept the group motivated and stirred the project to a conclusion and on time. 

Both the volunteers enjoyed working with the NGO. They were very appreciative of Dr. Agarwal’s support throughout the project, adding, “His encouragement and acceptance towards our ideas and suggestions were what kept us motivated during the project. He was always willing to get on a call with us whenever we needed, even if it was late and after work hours”. 

Publishing the paper however is not the end of the road, according to Dr. Agarwal. “The trauma of losing people and jobs can have long-term implications on a person’s mental health, and we still need to keep updating our research and add new findings as they come up”, he said.  

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Challenges faced

None of the teammates faced any major challenges. However, since Rishav did not have expertise in this field and had work deadlines to meet during the volunteering period, it was difficult to manage at times. Dr Pradnya has supported him in the process and together they ensured that the project reaches completion. 

But the fact that a research paper was being prepared remotely without going into the field to collect data was a challenge. The group tried their best to collect real-time data from sources for their research, and the government’s mandate for having any covid related data freely accessible for people to use was of significant help.