Feeling stressed? You’re not alone

May 2, 2022 - Waterloo researchers use survey data to uncover pandemic mental health insights - By by Suzanne Bowness Writer - If you feel more stressed than you did before the pandemic, you're not alone. Despite high rates of vaccination and our deeper familiarity with COVID-19, Canadians are still anxious. A deep dive into mental health survey data by researchers at the University of Waterloo shows that almost a quarter of Canadians are still reporting anxiety and suggests that the mental health impact of the pandemic might still be observed for a few years to come. Using survey data collected by the Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC), Gustavo Betini , a PhD candidate in the School of Public Health Sciences, and his supervisor, John Hirdes , are exploring the effect of the pandemic both on the population at large as well as on particular groups, from health-care workers, to the LGBTQ+ population, to students. Supported by a Mitacs grant, a national organization that connects agencies with academic researchers, the project aims to make even greater use of a MHRC survey that was sent out to between 3,000 and 4,000 Canadians every six to eight weeks since April 2020. Overall survey data has revealed that anxiety levels have not changed significantly since December 2021, with around 23 per cent of Canadians indicating high anxiety and approximately 15 per cent indicating high depression. "You might expect the stress would go down because we're used to this new reality, but it hasn't," says Betini, adding that economic concerns and the return to traditional workplaces may also be playing a part in the continued elevation.