Background: Perceived and unmet mental health needs constitute the central part of service demand, and understanding the magnitude of unmet mental health needs in the communities by decision makers is crucial for allocating and delivering mental health resources in a timely, equitable and efficient way. However, we have a little knowledge about perceived and unmet mental health needs at the nation, provincial/ territorial, and health region levels, and how the needs may have changed in the context of COVID-19.
The objectives of the proposed study are:
- To estimate and compare the proportions of perceived and unmet mental health needs in 2018, 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (pandemic period) at the national, provincial/territory, and health region levels.
- To develop and validate predictive models for perceived and unmet mental health needs at the national, provincial/territorial and health region levels.
- To estimate and compare the proportions of perceived and unmet mental health needs by individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and by neighborhood level health determinants over time.
Funding sources: The Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Team members: Jianli Wang (PI), Co-investigators: Heather Orpana, George Kephart, Andre Carrington, Helen-Maria Vasiliadis
