Self-rated mental health among sexual health service clients during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, British Columbia, Canada

Salway, Travis; Ablona, Aidan; Chang, Hsiu-Ju; Watt, Sarah; Worthington, Catherine; Grace, Daniel; Wong, Jason; Ogilvie, Gina; Grennan, Troy; Gilbert, Mark

Self-rated mental health among sexual health service clients during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, British Columbia, Canada

Files

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Authors

Salway, Travis

Ablona, Aidan

Chang, Hsiu-Ju

Watt, Sarah

Worthington, Catherine

Grace, Daniel

Wong, Jason

Ogilvie, Gina

Grennan, Troy

Gilbert, Mark

Issue Date

2021-09-08

Type

Article

Language

en_US

Keywords

Mental Health , Sexual Health , Service Integration , Syndemic Theory

Abstract

We investigated self-reported mental health during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March–May 2020), using a survey of HIV-testing and sexual health service clients from British Columbia, Canada (N = 1198). Over half (55%) reported their mental health as poor at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than double that of the general Canadian population in the same time frame (22%). Acknowledging that this burden of poor mental health that is likely to persist in the coming years, we propose that sexual health clinics should facilitate access to mental health supports as a low-barrier point of primary care contact.

Citation

Salway, T., Ablona, A., Chang, H. J., Watt, S., Worthington, C., Grace, D., Wong, J., Ogilvie, G., Grennan, T., & Gilbert, M. (2021). Self-rated mental health among sexual health service clients during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, British Columbia, Canada. Preventive medicine, 153, 106789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106789

Publisher

Preventive Medicine