Coronavirus negatively impacting mental health of 50% of Canadians: survey
Half of Canadian employees said their mental health has been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey by Teladoc Health Inc.
The survey, which polled more than 1,500 Canadian workers, found women (57 per cent) were more likely to report a harmful impact on their mental health than men (43 per cent). More than half (52 per cent) of respondents between the ages of 18 to 34 felt their mental health had taken a hit. In comparison, respondents over the age of 65 — notably those most at risk of the virus — experienced the lowest mental-health impact, with just 37 per cent saying their mental health had worsened.
David Sides, chief operating officer at Teledoc, says the high number of people experiencing negative effects doesn’t come as a surprise. “The burden that’s been placed on everyone, [with] working at home, childcare, you might be homeschooling — I can see why that’s the case.”
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The survey also found an increasing number of Canadians are open to remote mental health-care solutions. Two-thirds (62 per cent) of respondents said they’re open to using virtual mental-health care, compared to 40 per cent who said the same in an October 2019 survey. As well, 85 per cent of Canadians who have access to an employee benefits plan said those plans should offer virtual mental-health care as an option.
“I was pleased to see that people are more open to remote forms of mental-health care — maybe partly by necessity, but that’s a big increase,” says Sides, adding he expects this interest to continue after the pandemic.
Employers are also taking a variety of actions to support their employees’ mental health, with 39 per cent of respondents saying their employer has offered additional mental-health support, raised the discussion of employees’ mental-health needs and/or waived fees for mental-health support.
Read: How to support employees’ mental health during coronavirus
Indeed, Teladoc is one of these employers. In the wake of the pandemic, the company made its own service available to employees’ families. Within the first two weeks, several hundred new users accessed the platform, says Sides.
“The health of your immediate family or extended family also affects your mental health. If your spouse or your parents are having difficulty, it could impact you, especially as many families are compressing right now. Everyone’s in the same space at the same time now. We thought that was an important benefit to make available.”