RESUMEN
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person social interactions and opportunities for accessing resources that sustain health and well-being have drastically reduced. We therefore designed the pan-Canadian population-based prospective COVID-19: HEalth and Social Inequities across Neighbourhoods (COHESION) cohort to provide deeper understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic context affects mental health and well-being, key determinants of health, and health inequities. This paper presents the design of the two-phase COHESION Study, and descriptive results from the first phase conducted between May 2020 and September 2021. During that period, the COHESION research platform collected monthly data linked to COVID-19 such as infection and vaccination status, perceptions and attitudes regarding pandemic-related measures, and information on participants physical and mental health, well-being, sleep, loneliness, resilience, substances use, living conditions, social interactions, activities, and mobility. The 1,268 people enrolled in the Phase 1 COHESION Study are for the most part from Ontario (47%) and Quebec (33%), aged 48 {+/-} 16 years [mean {+/-} standard deviation (SD)], and mainly women (78%), White (85%), with a university degree (63%), and living in large urban centers (70%). According to the 298 {+/-} 68 (mean {+/-} SD) prospective questionnaires completed each month in average, the first year of follow-up reveals significant temporal variations in standardized indexes of well-being, loneliness, anxiety, depression, and psychological distress. The COHESION Study will allow identifying trajectories of mental health and well-being while investigating their determinants and how these may vary by subgroup, over time, and across different provinces in Canada, in the unique context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
RESUMEN
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and the isolation measures taken to control it has caused important disruptions in economies and labour markets, changed the way we work and socialize, forced schools to close and healthcare and social services to reorganize in order to redirect resources on the pandemic response. This unprecedented crisis forces individuals to make considerable efforts to adapt and can have serious psychological and social consequences that are likely to persist once the pandemic has been contained and restrictive measures lifted. These impacts will be significant for vulnerable individuals and will most likely exacerbate existing social and gender health and social inequalities. This crisis also puts a toll on the capacity of our healthcare and social services structures to provide timely and adequate care. In order to minimize these consequences, there is an urgent need for high-quality, real-time information on the psychosocial impacts of the pandemic. The MAVIPAN (Ma vie et la pandemie/My life with the pandemic) study aims to document how individuals, families, healthcare workers, and health organisations that provide services are affected by the pandemic and how they adapt. MethodsThe MAVIPAN study is a 5-year longitudinal prospective cohort study that was launched on April 29th, 2020 in the province of Quebec which, at that time, was the epicenter of the pandemic in Canada. Quantitative data is collected through online questionnaires approximately 5 times a year depending on the pandemic evolution. Questionnaires include measures of health, social, behavioral and individual determinants as well as psychosocial impacts. Qualitative data will be collected with individual and group interviews that seek to deepen our understanding of coping strategies. DiscussionThe MAVIPAN study will support the healthcare and social services system response by providing the evidence base needed to identify those who are most affected by the pandemic and by guiding public health authorities decision making regarding intervention and resource allocation to mitigate these impacts. It is also a unique opportunity to advance our knowledge on coping mechanisms and adjustment strategies. Trial registrationNCT04575571 (retrospectively registered)