MENTAL HEALTH RESILIENCE SURVEY ON COVID-19

Mind Science Centre, together with the Community Care Buddy (Iamaccb.sg), collaborated on a recent survey to find out the impact of COVID-19 on our mental health resilience. A total of 3,256 responses were collected from the two surveys conducted via the iamaccb.sg platform. A few factors, such as social isolation during the circuit breaker, uncertainty of the duration of the pandemic, and the resulting economic impact and news of a recession, may have contributed to the increased anxiety among some Singaporeans.

Here are some of the key results found:

• 61 per cent of those working from home reported feeling stressed, compared with 53 per cent of front liners.
• More people in the work-from-home group (51 per cent) also reported feeling stressed at home, compared to the group who are on the front lines of the pandemic (32 per cent).
• And, women are more likely to report being stressed at work and at home, compared to men.
• A greater proportion of women (61.3 per cent) reported feeling stressed at work, relative to men (49.7 per cent). It is the same case when it comes to perceived stress at home (50.2 per cent for women versus 45.5 per cent for men).
• On a positive note, most of the respondents said they found work manageable and generally felt well-supported at home and at work

The survey results showed that the impact on mental health is more strongly felt by certain segments of the population; particularly young people, working women and those working from home.

An interesting finding was that those working at home can be more stressed out than those working on the front lines of the pandemic. Furthermore, women working from home can be even more stressed than men, which may be attributed to women tending to hold more conventional “domestic leadership”. The added responsibilities when they are working from home culminates in a higher level of stress and anxiety.