TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychological wellbeing in the English population during the COVID-19 pandemic: A series of cross-sectional surveys
AU - Smith, Louise
AU - Amlot, Richard
AU - Fear, Nicola
AU - Michie, Susan
AU - Rubin, James
AU - Potts, Henry
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme. Surveys were commissioned and funded by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), with the authors providing advice on the question design and selection. LS, RA and GJR are supported by the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Emergency Preparedness and Response, a partnership between the UK Health Security Agency, King's College London and the University of East Anglia. RA is also supported by the NIHR HPRU in Behavioural Science and Evaluation, a partnership between the UK Health Security Agency and the University of Bristol. HWWP has received funding from Public Health England and NHS England. NTF is part funded by a grant from the UK Ministry of Defence. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, UK Health Security Agency, the Department of Health and Social Care or the Ministry of Defence.Louise E Smith: conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, methodology, writing – original draft. Richard Amlȏt: conceptualisation, funding acquisition, methodology, writing – review & editing. Nicola T Fear: conceptualisation, funding acquisition, methodology, writing – review & editing. Susan Michie: conceptualisation, funding acquisition, methodology, writing – review & editing. G James Rubin: conceptualisation, funding acquisition, methodology, writing – review & editing. Henry WW Potts: conceptualisation, funding acquisition, methodology, writing – original draft.All authors had financial support from NIHR for the submitted work; RA is an employee of the UK Health Security Agency; HWWP has received additional salary support from Public Health England and NHS England; HWWP receives consultancy fees to his employer from Ipsos MORI and has a PhD student who works at and has fees paid by AstraZeneca; NTF is a participant of an independent group advising NHS Digital on the release of patient data. At the time of writing GJR is acting as an expert witness in an unrelated case involving Bayer PLC, supported by LS. All authors were participants of the UK's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies or its subgroups.
Funding Information:
This work was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme. Surveys were commissioned and funded by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) , with the authors providing advice on the question design and selection. LS, RA and GJR are supported by the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Emergency Preparedness and Response, a partnership between the UK Health Security Agency, King's College London and the University of East Anglia. RA is also supported by the NIHR HPRU in Behavioural Science and Evaluation, a partnership between the UK Health Security Agency and the University of Bristol. HWWP has received funding from Public Health England and NHS England . NTF is part funded by a grant from the UK Ministry of Defence . The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, UK Health Security Agency, the Department of Health and Social Care or the Ministry of Defence.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - Psychological distress has been elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies published to date have investigated distress after the first wave of infections (Spring – Summer 2020). We investigated distress and wellbeing between April 2020 and April 2022 in England through a series of cross-sectional online surveys. People aged 16 years or over living in the UK were eligible for the surveys; for this study we selected only those living in England due to differences in restrictions between UK nations. Distress was measured using the PHQ4 (n = 60,921 responses), while wellbeing was measured using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (n = 61,152 responses). Throughout, approximately 50%–60% of women and 40%–50% of men reported distress, higher than the 25%–30% of women, and 20%–25% of men reported in normative data. Wellbeing was also worse than population norms, with women reporting lower wellbeing than men. Rates of distress in the English population have been consistently high throughout the pandemic. Patterns of distress have broadly mirrored the pattern of restrictions and case numbers, but there are notable exceptions which indicate that other factors may play a part in population mental health.
AB - Psychological distress has been elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies published to date have investigated distress after the first wave of infections (Spring – Summer 2020). We investigated distress and wellbeing between April 2020 and April 2022 in England through a series of cross-sectional online surveys. People aged 16 years or over living in the UK were eligible for the surveys; for this study we selected only those living in England due to differences in restrictions between UK nations. Distress was measured using the PHQ4 (n = 60,921 responses), while wellbeing was measured using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (n = 61,152 responses). Throughout, approximately 50%–60% of women and 40%–50% of men reported distress, higher than the 25%–30% of women, and 20%–25% of men reported in normative data. Wellbeing was also worse than population norms, with women reporting lower wellbeing than men. Rates of distress in the English population have been consistently high throughout the pandemic. Patterns of distress have broadly mirrored the pattern of restrictions and case numbers, but there are notable exceptions which indicate that other factors may play a part in population mental health.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134549312&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.06.040
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.06.040
M3 - Article
SN - 0022-3956
VL - 153
SP - 254
EP - 259
JO - Journal of Psychiatric Research
JF - Journal of Psychiatric Research
ER -