JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

COVID-19 is expected to have widespread and pervasive implications for mental health, both in terms of deteriorating outcomes and increased health service utilisation, leading to widespread calls for empirical research on mental health during the pandemic. Internet-based psychological measurement can play an important role in collecting much-needed data, thereby helping to guide evidence-based decision making in practice and policy, and subsequently facilitating immediate reporting of assessment results to participants.

Objective:

To use an internet-based assessment tool to compare the mental health profile of community members during COVID-19 with community members assessed before COVID-19.

Methods:

This study used an internet-based self-assessment tool to collect data on psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress), mental wellbeing, and resilience in community cohorts during (1 cohort, n=673), and prior the pandemic (two cohorts, n=1264 and n=340).

Results:

Results demonstrated significant lower scores on all measured mental health outcomes for participants measured during COVID-19 compared to those measured before, P<.001 for all outcomes, effect sizes ranging between d=0.32 to d=0.81. Participants who demonstrated problematic scores for at least one of the mental health outcomes increased from 58% before COVID-19 to 79% during COVID-19.

Conclusions:

The results clearly demonstrate a worsening in the number of participants who have heightened risk of developing serious mental illness. While further research is needed, the current findings indicate serious mental health implications of the pandemic, and it highlights the utility of internet-based data collection tools in providing evidence to innovate and strengthen mental health practice and policy during and after the pandemic.