Tighter pandemic policies have hit mental health

According to two new studies, people’s mental health deteriorated when the government implemented strict COVID-19 control measures.

In a longitudinal analysis using data from 15 countries except the United States, more rigorous policies were associated with higher average psychological distress scores during the first 15 months of the pandemic (standardization factor β = 0.014, 95% CI 0.005-0.023). Dr. Rafael Goldszmidt and his colleagues in the Brazilian Faculty of Public Management in Rio de Janeiro.

People living in areas with stricter containment policies were also ranked lower in self-reported life assessment scores (β = -0.010, 95% CI -0.015 to -0.004). Lancet Public Health..

In addition to the strictness of the policy, the intensity of the pandemic has also hurt the mental health of the inhabitants. In countries with high deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, average psychological distress scores are high (β = 0.016, 95% CI 0.008-0.025) and life ratings are low (β = -0.010, 95% CI -0.017 ~). -0.004) Residents were seen.

For this analysis, Goldszmidt and the team have announced eight policies for school closures, workplace closures, public event cancellations, assembly restrictions, public transport closures, home requirements, domestic travel restrictions, and eight international policies. I investigated the rigor of the government’s response. Travel restrictions.

When we categorized the policies individually, one policy had a greater impact on mental health than the others. After managing the intensity of the pandemic, meeting restrictions, stay-at-home orders, and travel restrictions were associated with higher psychological distress scores and lower life ratings, respectively. School and workplace closures, public transport closures, cancellations of public events, and restrictions on domestic travel did not have a significant impact on mental health.

The authors stated that women are more likely to be affected than men. More specifically, women over the age of 30 had a stronger negative association between policy rigor and life evaluation than young women.

Goldszmidt’s group also found that, in contrast to the COVID containment strategy, countries that implemented exclusion strategies tended to take less stringent policies, which would reduce the burden on residents’ mental health. discovered. These countries also tended to have fewer deaths.

Only the four countries included in the analysis, Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, pursued COVID elimination strategies. Eleven other countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) had mitigation strategies.

“The government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely debated,” said Dr. Lara B. Aknin, co-author of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, in a statement. “At first glance, the eliminator country may appear to have implemented a much stricter strategy than any other country due to the widely reported international travel ban.”

Reflecting this, Goldszmidt said, “The mitigation strategy is at least partially associated with worsening mental health outcomes, as containment measures such as long-term blockades and physical distance can impede social ties. It may be. “

“Strategy aimed at eliminating infections while promoting early action and targeted rigor can reduce mortality while protecting people’s mental health in the process,” he said. Suggested. “At the same time, the government needs to provide clear and consistent information on policy measures to increase public confidence in the government’s response to the pandemic.”

This longitudinal analysis collected mental health data from 15 countries from April 27, 2020 to June 28, 2021. A total of 432,642 adult responses to the Imperial College London-YouGov COVID-19 Behavior Tracker Global Survey were included in the analysis.

Psychological distress was measured in a four-item patient health questionnaire, and life assessment was measured in a cantril ladder question asking respondents to assess their current living conditions on a scale of 0 to 10.

Towards Australia

In the second study published at the same time Lancet Public HealthResearchers, especially those focused on Australia, have identified exactly which groups are bearing the brunt of these mental health implications.

Using a quasi- design, Mark Woodon, a master’s degree, and colleagues at the University of Melbourne found that the blockade led to a slight (but statistically significant) reduction in resident mental health. Did.

The Wooden group compared residents of Victoria in 2020 to those living in other parts of Australia that were not blocked.

As seen in the first study, blockades put a much greater burden on women’s mental health than men, with women having a five-item mental health inventory score that dropped by 2.2 points, compared to 0.6 for men. The points have dropped.

Women living in apartments fell 4.1 points, while women living in single-family homes, terraced houses and townhouses fell an average of 4.8 points. Women living in remote homes had the least impact on mental health (down 1.7 points).

In addition, women in couples with children under the age of 15 had a 4.4 point drop in mental health score during the blockade. Interestingly, single mothers didn’t see this effect.

“This gender impact may be due to the additional workload associated with working from home, while the need to care for and educate children at the same time, and existing inequality in family and care responsibilities. Will increase, “Wooden suggested in a statement.

“It may seem unexpected that this trend doesn’t apply to single mothers,” he added. “One of the reasons could be the financial support package that the Australian federal government provided to the group as part of its economic recovery response, which may have eased concerns and anxieties about the blockade. . “

“Single mothers are likely to have experienced a life without a safety net and a strong support system before the pandemic,” he continued. “So they may find it easier to adapt to sudden changes than women in a married couple.”

The Wooden group pointed out that these findings are for Australians only and may not reflect their impact on mental health in other countries.