Incorporating Well-Being and Mental Health Research to Improve Pandemic Response

Michael Daly,Liam Delaney

doi:10.31389/lseppr.48

Abstract

This paper discusses the potential for well-being research to be institutionalised into emergency response in the UK. We review the short and long-run well-being impacts of covid policies and argue for a wider scope of groups such as The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). The potential form of such response could be based both on emerging multi-dimensional societal well-being frameworks and on rapid and scalable policy appraisal capacities that incorporate well-being considerations.

Highlights

During the pandemic, infection risk, hospitalisations, and deaths formed the basis for modelling and government advice
We discuss how this evidence has not been reflected in the structure of the pandemic response, as the main advisory bodies have been predominantly focused on the physical health outcomes of disease control strategies
This study showed that home-schooling children, social media use, and staying informed about Covid-19 during the pandemic were associated with adverse wellbeing effects, whereas spending time outdoors and in nature predicted well-being benefits

Summary

Introduction

Infection risk, hospitalisations, and deaths formed the basis for modelling and government advice. Developing this structure to allow for rapid assessments of medium to long-run psychosocial impacts is something that should be considered as a matter of urgency, both in the context of the ongoing pandemic response and in relation to preparedness for future emergency situations This is further emphasised in evidence submitted by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Institute of Development Studies, which discussed the importance of social science perspectives in informing decisionmaking. A framework for evaluating the societal impact of the pandemic: A well-being index could capture the impact of a wide-range of factors during the pandemic [27] including infection-related worries, the impact of adverse economic circumstances such as unemployment and reduced income, and the effects of social isolation and psychological distress Such well-being estimates could be used to inform policy decisions by providing a metric for weighing up potential decision-impacts across a range of spheres using population-based data representing a diverse set of individuals

Procedural fairness

Dampening international conflict and Covid-metric nationalism

Conclusion