The impact of COVID-19 among illiterate people and people with a mild intellectual disabilities: preventative measures, (mental) health and support needs

The COVID-19 pandemic and the preventative measures taken to control this have a great impact on our society. It is difficult to provide vulnerable people, such as people with a mild intellectual disability and people with low literacy skills, with adequate information on the measures implemented and their rationale. Moreover, these people with small social networks, depending on dailty activities for daily structure and in a vulnerable position on the labour market may experience even greater impact of the crisis.
RIVM and GGD conducted a survey on uptake and understanding of the preventative measures and the impact on health and wellbeing in the general population of the Netherlands. The aim of this study is to tailor this survey to the capacities of people with MID or low literacy skills, in order to assess their understanding of the measures taken and the impact of the crisis on their health and wellbeing. In this observational study, an online survey is conducted among 1000 adults in the target group, which is repeated 3 times (September '20, January '21 and May '21).

The study population experiences difficulties understanding preventative COVID-19 measures and their mental health is negatively influenced by the COVID-19 crisis.

the survey is conducted 3 times, after which analyses and intermediate reporting takes place