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Young people's mental and social distress in times of international crisis: evidence from helpline calls, 2019-2022.

ABSTRACT: We document mental and social distress of children, adolescents and adults, using data on 3 million calls to German helplines between January 2019 and May 2022. High-frequency data from crisis helpline logs offer rich information on the evolution of "revealed distress" among the most vulnerable, unaffected by researchers' study design and framing. Distress of adults, measured by the volume of calls, rose significantly after both the outbreak of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In contrast, the overall revealed distress of children and adolescents did not increase during those crises. The nature of young people's concerns, however, changed more strongly than for adults after the COVID-19 outbreak. Consistent with the effects of social distancing, call topics of young people shifted from problems with school and peers to problems with family and mental health. We find the share of severe mental health problems among young people to have increased with a delay, in the second and third year of the pandemic.

SUBMITTER: Brulhart M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10363110 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Young people's mental and social distress in times of international crisis: evidence from helpline calls, 2019-2022.

Brülhart Marius M Klotzbücher Valentin V Lalive Rafael R

Scientific reports 20230722 1

We document mental and social distress of children, adolescents and adults, using data on 3 million calls to German helplines between January 2019 and May 2022. High-frequency data from crisis helpline logs offer rich information on the evolution of "revealed distress" among the most vulnerable, unaffected by researchers' study design and framing. Distress of adults, measured by the volume of calls, rose significantly after both the outbreak of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I ...[more]

PMID: 37481636

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Project description:BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, family physicians faced challenges including travel restrictions for patients, lockdowns, diagnostic testing delays, and changing public health guidelines. Given that 95% of Canadian physicians are members of the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA), the CMPA's telephone helpline - which offers peer-to-peer support - provides valuable insights into family physicians' experiences during the pandemic.MethodsWe used a content analysis approach to identify and understand family physicians' questions and concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic expressed during calls to the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) telephone helpline. Calls were classified with preliminary codes and subsequently organized into themes. We collected aggregated data on calls, including province, call date, and whether the physician self-identified having hospital-based activities as part of their practice. Findings from the analysis were explored alongside family physician calls per month (call volume).ResultsBetween 01 and 2020 and 31 December 2021, 2,272 family physician calls related to the pandemic were included for content analysis. We identified six major themes across these calls: challenging patient interactions; COVID-related care; the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare system; virtual care; physician obligations and rights; and public health matters. COVID-related call volumes were highest early in the pandemic especially among physicians without major hospital affiliation when family physicians practiced with little guidance on how to balance patient care and scarce resources in the face of a novel pandemic.ConclusionsThis research provides unique insight on the effects the COVID-19 pandemic had on family medicine in Canada. These results provide insights on the needs and information gaps of family physicians in a public health crisis and can inform preparedness efforts by public health agencies, professional organizations, educators, and practitioners.

Dataset Information

Young people's mental and social distress in times of international crisis: evidence from helpline calls, 2019-2022.

Publications

Young people's mental and social distress in times of international crisis: evidence from helpline calls, 2019-2022.

Similar Datasets

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