Purpose & Goals

Brianna Turner, Theone Paterson, and a group of Mental Health researchers at the University of Victoria seek to understand the psychological impact of Covid-19 on Canadians.

Data collection occured in three waves of research:

• Fall 2020
• Early winter 2020
• Spring 2021

The research team used two primary methods of data collection. Population based surveys which were available to take online and went out equally across 10 provinces and 6 age groups. 5000-6000 surveys went out with each wave. Targeted surveys for health care workers and those living in rural communities were co-developed with community members and mental health professionals. 

The responses of ~6000 Canadians were analyzed to build a picture and enable a better understanding about how the pandemic affected people and identified gaps in response. The information is helping to plan future support, services and clinical research. It is also helping key stakeholders to prepare for future infectious diseases or pandemics.

Canada is one of several countries that form Psych-COV International : a multi-national survey examining mental health impacts and unmet needs during COVID-19. So far, the countries/regions participating are China and Hong Kong, India, Egypt, the United Arab Emarites, Pakistan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman/Gulf region countries, Bangladesh, and Ukraine).

This project was initially launched by Dr. Shanaya Rathod (Southern Health National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, University of Portsmouth, UK) and Dr. Peter Phiri (Southern Health NHS, University of Southampton, UK) to understand mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across multiple national contexts with varying outbreak dynamics and public health responses.