It will come as little surprise to anyone with a heartbeat that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the mental health of Canadians.
We now have some new data about just how that stress, ahem, breaks down–courtesy of an online poll conducted earlier this month by the Angus Reid Institute on behalf of United Way Centraide Canada.
The survey found that three out of four respondents (76%) said the pandemic had caused stress, anxiety or depression.
The poll found found that 19 per cent of respondents have been unable to pay at least one of their bills since the pandemic began. Most of them–73 per cent–said they didn’t have difficulty paying bills before the pandemic. (Shutterstock/Damir Khabirov)
It also found that 19 per cent of respondents have been unable to pay at least one of their bills since the pandemic began.
Most of those people, (73%) said they didn’t have difficulty paying bills before the pandemic.
The survey was conducted in conjunction with the Canada’s first 211 Day, which aims to raise awareness of the 211 helpline, which is a free and confidential referral service that connects people to government and social services, along with nearby community services.
Key results from a survey include the following:
- 12% of Canadians surveyed said they had experienced food insecurity at some point since the beginning of the pandemic.
- Of those people, 63% say they haven’t experienced food insecurity in the past.
- 76% of Canadians said the pandemic has had an effect on their mental health.
- 57% say it has caused them stress, 55% said it had caused them anxiety, 36% say it had caused depression.
- There was a dramatic increase in the number of times Canadians reached out to 211 in January 2021 compared to August 2020 in search of counselling (276%), mental health care facilities (112%), and mental health assessment and treatment (105%).
- The number of calls to 211 from March to December 2020 was 30% higher than calls received during the same period in 2019.
The poll was conducted in both English and French, with 1,530 people responding.
The polling industry’s professional body,
According to the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, the polling industry’s professional body, online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
With files from The Canadian Press
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