London, Ontario, April 15, 2020: The impact of the pandemic on the mental health of the global population is unclear. For this reason, scientists at Pulse Infoframe are leading an online study to investigate the short-term and long-term impacts of the pandemic on the mental health of individuals and communities.
During the pandemic briefing on March 25, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo stated, “No one’s really talking about this. You know, we’re all concerned about the immediate critical need, the life and death of the immediate situation — which is right. But don’t underestimate the emotional trauma that people are feeling and the emotional health issues….6,000 mental health professionals agreed to volunteer to provide mental health services for people who need it. How beautiful is that?” Link to quote: https:www.axios.com
To help healthcare workers and leaders understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health well-being everywhere, Pulse Infoframe is launching its healthie™ COVID-19 Stress Monitor and VOX (voice) Mental Health Assessment solutions.
This free resource is a short “check-in” tool that asks simple questions about how an individual is feeling and dealing with COVID-19. Once completed, the Stress Monitor will provide individuals with results and information about where support is available.
Based on the Stress Monitor results, some participants will be invited to join the healthie™ VOX Mental Health Assessment. VOX is a full impact study, with three follow-up questionnaires to assess each participant’s well-being and risk of anxiety and depression.
“We wanted to provide a platform for people everywhere to voice their feelings and experiences and help them access additional mental health resources,” says Dr. Femida Gwadry-Sridhar, founder and CEO of Pulse Infoframe. “Additionally, what we learn through this will help inform the national response to the physical and emotional effects of COVID-19.”
The full assessment tool is designed especially to help organizations and communities around the world share their experiences. Just like healthcare researchers have been tracking the coronavirus’s transmissions and effects around the world, Pulse Infoframe’s assessment initiative will do the same for mental health as it relates to the pandemic.
Tracking the mental health effects of COVID-19 as they are playing out in everyday life is called real-world evidence and is a new standard that has gained fast momentum in the medical world. The real-world evidence generated from this study can be used to:
- provide insights into a population’s mental well-being that can be used to implement proactive measures for at-risk populations and help plan for the greatly needed post-COVID-19 health care requirements,
- mitigate and manage the potential negative impact on workplace absenteeism and productivity that we are already witnessing and expect to see worldwide, and
- establish cost-effective ways to manage mental health services.
“This unique, timely assessment enables longitudinal tracking of our communities’ mental health and well-being while providing an opportunity to collect early signals and predictors of demand for mental health services for all of us,” says Gwadry-Sridhar. “This important study will contribute to strengthening communities everywhere as well as provide a proactive planning approach to address the mental health and emotional well-being impact of this pandemic. Together, through collaboration, sharing, and mutual support, we all will get through this pandemic and emerge stronger and more informed for the future.”
Anyone can participate by going to www.pulseinfoframe.com/covid19.