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1. Psychosocial Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Large-scale Quasi-Experimental Study on Social Media

   https://doi.org/10.2196/22600  

   Saha, Koustuv ; Torous, John ; Caine, Eric D ; De Choudhury, Munmun ( January 2020 , Journal of Medical Internet Research)

   null (Ed.)

   Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused several disruptions in personal and collective lives worldwide. The uncertainties surrounding the pandemic have also led to multifaceted mental health concerns, which can be exacerbated with precautionary measures such as social distancing and self-quarantining, as well as societal impacts such as economic downturn and job loss. Despite noting this as a “mental health tsunami”, the psychological effects of the COVID-19 crisis remain unexplored at scale. Consequently, public health stakeholders are currently limited in identifying ways to provide timely and tailored support during these circumstances. Objective Our study aims to provide insights regarding people’s psychosocial concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic by leveraging social media data. We aim to study the temporal and linguistic changes in symptomatic mental health and support expressions in the pandemic context. Methods We obtained about 60 million Twitter streaming posts originating from the United States from March 24 to May 24, 2020, and compared these with about 40 million posts from a comparable period in 2019 to attribute the effect of COVID-19 on people’s social media self-disclosure. Using these data sets, we studied people’s self-disclosure on social media in terms of symptomatic mental health concerns and expressions of support. We employed transfer learning classifiers that identified the social media language indicative of mental health outcomes (anxiety, depression, stress, and suicidal ideation) and support (emotional and informational support). We then examined the changes in psychosocial expressions over time and language, comparing the 2020 and 2019 data sets. Results We found that all of the examined psychosocial expressions have significantly increased during the COVID-19 crisis—mental health symptomatic expressions have increased by about 14%, and support expressions have increased by about 5%, both thematically related to COVID-19. We also observed a steady decline and eventual plateauing in these expressions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have been due to habituation or due to supportive policy measures enacted during this period. Our language analyses highlighted that people express concerns that are specific to and contextually related to the COVID-19 crisis. Conclusions We studied the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 crisis by using social media data from 2020, finding that people’s mental health symptomatic and support expressions significantly increased during the COVID-19 period as compared to similar data from 2019. However, this effect gradually lessened over time, suggesting that people adapted to the circumstances and their “new normal.” Our linguistic analyses revealed that people expressed mental health concerns regarding personal and professional challenges, health care and precautionary measures, and pandemic-related awareness. This study shows the potential to provide insights to mental health care and stakeholders and policy makers in planning and implementing measures to mitigate mental health risks amid the health crisis. 

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2. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural America

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2019378118  

   Mueller, J. Tom ; McConnell, Kathryn ; Burow, Paul Berne ; Pofahl, Katie ; Merdjanoff, Alexis A. ; Farrell, Justin ( December 2020 , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Despite considerable social scientific attention to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on urbanized areas, very little research has examined its impact on rural populations. Yet rural communities—which make up tens of millions of people from diverse backgrounds in the United States—are among the nation’s most vulnerable populations and may be less resilient to the effects of such a large-scale exogenous shock. We address this critical knowledge gap with data from a new survey designed to assess the impacts of the pandemic on health-related and economic dimensions of rural well-being in the North American West. Notably, we find that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural populations have been severe, with significant negative impacts on unemployment, overall life satisfaction, mental health, and economic outlook. Further, we find that these impacts have been generally consistent across age, ethnicity, education, and sex. We discuss how these findings constitute the beginning of a much larger interdisciplinary COVID-19 research effort that integrates rural areas and pushes beyond the predominant focus on cities and nation-states.

    

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3. Predictors of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic in the US: Role of economic concerns, health worries and social distancing

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241895  

   Kämpfen, Fabrice ; Kohler, Iliana V. ; Ciancio, Alberto ; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi ; Maurer, Jürgen ; Kohler, Hans-Peter ( November 2020 , PLOS ONE)

   Kwon, Young Dae (Ed.)

   Despite the profound health and economic implications of Covid-19, there is only limited knowledge to date about the role of economic concerns, health worries and social distancing for mental health outcomes during the pandemic. We analyze online survey data from the nationally representative “Understanding America Study” (UAS) covering the period of March 10-31st 2020 (sample size: 6,585). Mental health is assessed by the validated PHQ-4 instrument for measuring symptoms of depression and anxiety. About 29% (CI:27.4-.30.4%) of the US adult population reported some depression/anxiety symptoms over the study period, with symptoms deteriorating over the month of March. Worsening mental health was most strongly associated with concerns about the economic consequences of the pandemic, while concerns about the potential implications of the virus for respondents’ own health and social distancing also predicted increases in symptoms of depression and anxiety during the early stages of the pandemic in the US, albeit less strongly. Our findings point towards the possibility of a major mental health crisis unfolding simultaneously with the pandemic, with economic concerns being a key driving force of this crisis. These results highlight the likely importance of economic countermeasures and social policy for mitigating the impact of Covid-19 on adult mental health in the US over and above an effective public health response. 

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4. Disparities in adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by disability status in metropolitan Texas

   https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdad209  

   Chakraborty, J. ; Grineski, S. E. ; Collins, T. W. ; Aun, J. J. ( November 2023 , Journal of Public Health)

   This article addresses the urgent need for more evidence-based research using primary data to document how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the health and social wellbeing of disabled individuals. Our study sought to determine if adults with disabilities, and with specific types of disability, were more likely to suffer adverse health and social impacts related to COVID-19 than nondisabled adults in metropolitan Texas, during the first 18 months of the pandemic.

   We collected primary data from randomly selected residents in eight Texas metropolitan areas through a bilingual telephone survey in July 2021. Statistical analysis comprised multivariable generalized estimating equations that control for relevant sociodemographic and COVID-related risk factors, and spatial clustering.

   Disabled survey respondents had been more adversely affected by COVID-19 than nondisabled respondents, in terms of mental and physical health, health care access, living conditions and social life. Significant disparities were also found for almost all COVID-19 impacts when the disabled category was disaggregated by disability type. Respondents experiencing cognitive and independent living difficulties were negatively impacted in all five areas of life examined.

   Findings emphasize the need to consider a wide range of impacts associated with the COVID-19 pandemic that negatively affect the health and social wellbeing of disabled persons, as well as develop disability-inclusive policies that provide adequate protections.

    

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5. A systematic review of public policy implementation during the Covid‐19 pandemic: Current topics and future directions

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ropr.12607  

   de_Oliveira_Lemos_Novato, Valeria ; Toscano, Cristiana Maria ; da_Rocha Soares Ferreira, Vicente ; Patel, Shivani ( March 2024 , Review of Policy Research)

   The Covid‐19 pandemic greatly impacted global public policy implementation. There is a lack of research synthesizing the lessons learned during Covid‐19 from a policy perspective. A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines to examine the literature on public policy implementation during the Covid‐19 pandemic in order to gain comprehensive insights into current topics and future directions. Five clusters of topics were identified: lessons from science, crisis governance, behavior and mental health, beyond the crisis, and frontlines and trust. Extensive collaboration among public health departments emerged as a significant research theme. Thirty recommendations for future research were identified, including the examination of frontline worker behavior, the use of just tech in policy implementation, and the investigation of policies driving improvements in global public health. The findings indicate that current research on public policy implementation during the Covid‐19 pandemic extends beyond health and economic crisis‐related policies. However, further studies in a post‐pandemic context are needed to validate the identified topics and future directions.

    

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