Research Paper Title

Downloading a government-issued COVID-19 contact tracing app may improve psychological distress in the outbreak among employed adults: a prospective study.

Background

Downloading of a COVID-19 contact tracing app may be effective in reducing anxiety about COVID-19 and psychological distress of users.

Therefore, the objective of this 2.5-month prospective study aimed to investigate the association of downloading of a COVID-19 contact tracing app, the COVID-19 Contact Confirming Application (COCOA), released by the Japanese government with fear and worry about COVID-19 and psychological distress in a sample of employed adults of Japan.

Methods

A total of 996 full-time employed respondents to an online survey on 22 to 26 May 2020 (baseline) were invited to participate in a follow-up survey on 07 to 12 August 2020 (follow-up). High level of worrying about COVID-19 and high psychological distress were defined by scores on a single-item scale and the K6 scale, respectively…