The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital, in collaboration with Delvinia, a leading global research technology company, announced today the inaugural results of a new national survey series focused on better understanding Canadians’ mental health and substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collected by Delvinia between May 8 – 12, 2020 shows that women, younger adults and people with children in the home are more likely to experience anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Key Survey Findings:

  • One quarter (25.5 per cent) of respondents indicated moderate to severe anxiety levels, 23.2 per cent felt lonely occasionally or most of the time in the past week and one fifth (20.4 per cent) reported feeling depressed occasionally or most of the time in the past week.
  • Women, those with children under the age of 18 living in the home and younger adults (aged 18-39) were all more likely to feel both depression and anxiety.
  • People  who have a job that exposes them to a high risk of COVID-19 were more likely to have high levels of anxiety compared to those with lower risk jobs (32.8 per cent vs. 24.4 per cent respectively).
  • Changes to employment status also impacted mental health. Those who have lost their job or are no longer working because of COVID-19 are more likely to have moderate to severe anxiety levels (33.7 per cent) compared to other groups (21.8 per cent), and were more likely to report feeling lonely (30.8 per cent) compared to other groups (21.6 per cent).

The survey also asked respondents about their alcohol consumption patterns. Nearly one quarter (23.7 per cent) of respondents reported engaging in binge drinking at least once in the past week, while those who are very worried about the impact of COVID-19 on their personal finances (27.7 per cent) were especially likely to engage in binge drinking.

In support of the response to COVID-19, Delvinia is providing free access to all survey data via its Methodify platform for the public to explore, download and use within their organizations. This can be accessed at http://www.delvinia.com/camh-coronavirus-mental-health/.