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Using Peer Support to Strengthen Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic : A Review Suresh, Rahul; Alam, Armaghan; Karkossa, Zoe
Abstract
Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on society’s overall mental health. Measures such as mandated lockdowns and physical distancing have contributed to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and other metrics indicating worsening mental health. Peer support, which is peer-to-peer provided social and emotional support, is an underutilized and effective mental health resource that can potentially be used to ameliorate mental health during these times. Objective: This review aims to summarize the toll that this pandemic has had on society’s mental health as found in peer-reviewed literature from October 2019 to March 2021, as well as suggest the utility of peer support to address these needs. Methods: References for this review were chosen through searches of PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for articles published between October 2019 and March 2021 that used the terms: “coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” “mental health,” “anxiety,” “depression,” “isolation,” “mental health resources,” “peer support,” “online mental health resources,” and “healthcare workers.” Articles resulting from these searches and relevant references cited in those articles were reviewed. Articles published in English, French and Italian were included. Results: This pandemic has ubiquitously worsened the mental health of populations across the world. Peer support has been demonstrated to yield generally positive effects on the mental health of a wide variety of recipients, and it can be provided through numerous accessible mediums. Conclusions: Peer support can overall be beneficial for improving mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and may be an effective tool should similar events arise in the future, although the presence of a few conflicting studies suggests the need for additional research.
Item Metadata
Title |
Using Peer Support to Strengthen Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic : A Review
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Creator | |
Publisher |
Frontiers Media
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Date Issued |
2021-07-12
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Description |
Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on
society’s overall mental health. Measures such as mandated lockdowns and physical
distancing have contributed to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and other metrics
indicating worsening mental health. Peer support, which is peer-to-peer provided social
and emotional support, is an underutilized and effective mental health resource that can
potentially be used to ameliorate mental health during these times.
Objective: This review aims to summarize the toll that this pandemic has had on
society’s mental health as found in peer-reviewed literature from October 2019 to March
2021, as well as suggest the utility of peer support to address these needs.
Methods: References for this review were chosen through searches of PubMed, Web
of Science, and Google Scholar for articles published between October 2019 and
March 2021 that used the terms: “coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” “mental health,” “anxiety,”
“depression,” “isolation,” “mental health resources,” “peer support,” “online mental health
resources,” and “healthcare workers.” Articles resulting from these searches and relevant
references cited in those articles were reviewed. Articles published in English, French and
Italian were included.
Results: This pandemic has ubiquitously worsened the mental health of populations
across the world. Peer support has been demonstrated to yield generally positive effects
on the mental health of a wide variety of recipients, and it can be provided through
numerous accessible mediums.
Conclusions: Peer support can overall be beneficial for improving mental health during
the COVID-19 pandemic and may be an effective tool should similar events arise in
the future, although the presence of a few conflicting studies suggests the need for
additional research.
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Subject | |
Genre | |
Type | |
Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2021-07-14
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
Attribution 4.0 International
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0400192
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URI | |
Affiliation | |
Campus | |
Citation |
Suresh R, Alam A and Karkossa Z (2021) Using Peer Support to Strengthen Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review. Front. Psychiatry 12:714181.
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Publisher DOI |
10.3389/fpsyt.2021.714181
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Peer Review Status |
Reviewed
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Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Copyright Holder |
Authors
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Rights URI | |
Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International