Health Reports

A Canadian peer-reviewed journal of population health and health services research

May 2022

Validation of the mental health continuum: Short form among Canadian Armed Forces personnel

by Rachel A. Plouffe, Aihua Liu, J. Don Richardson and Anthony Nazarov

Traditional definitions conceptualized overall mental and physical health as the absence of disease. These conventional interpretations of health have since evolved to acknowledge that mental (and physical) health cannot be reduced to the absence of illness, but instead involve a complex interplay of social, psychological and biological factors. Specifically, recent definitions describe mental health as a state of well-being in which one copes effectively with everyday stressors, contributes to society, works productively, and realizes one’s potential. As the promotion of positive mental health becomes an international priority, it is imperative that researchers, policy makers, and government bodies recognize, understand, and measure positive mental health on a continuum related to, but distinct from, mental illness. This is especially important to enhance the well-being of groups of people who are particularly susceptible to mental health challenges, including military members and Veterans. The purpose of this research is to validate a commonly used measure of positive mental health known as the Mental Health Continuum - Short Form (MHC-SF) in a nationally representative sample of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel.

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Prevalence of suicidal ideation among adults in Canada: Results of the second Survey on COVID-19 and mental health

by Li Liu, Nathaniel J. Pollock, Gisèle Contreras, Lil Tonmyr and Wendy Thompson

The COVID-19 pandemic and the related public health measures have exacerbated economic, psychosocial and health-related risk factors for suicidality, though the long-term impact on suicide-related outcomes remains uncertain. A living systematic review has helped track the global evidence related to suicidality during the pandemic, but early findings were inconsistent and showed that the prevalence of suicide-related behaviours, including suicidal ideation, varied between studies. A recent international meta-analysis of 54 studies reported that the combined prevalence of suicidal ideation during the first year of the pandemic was 10.8%, which was higher than the pre-pandemic global estimates of approximately 2% to 5%. However, limited conclusions can be drawn, since nearly half of the included studies relied on convenience samples or did not state the measure used to assess suicidal ideation, and samples were predominantly younger (mean age of 34 years), female (57.5%) and White (66.3%). In Canada, the prevalence of suicidal thoughts during the pandemic has been studied using repeated cross-sectional surveys. Overall, the generalizability of these studies is limited because samples were relatively small, with comparatively short data collection and recall periods; they also lacked pre-pandemic baseline data for comparison, and some were not nationally representative.

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Prevalence of suicidal ideation among adults in Canada: Results of the second Survey on COVID-19 and mental health

The unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical activity habits of Canadians

by Rachel C. Colley and Jenny Watt

Starting in March 2020, lockdowns and closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic altered the daily movement and exercise habits of many Canadians. While public health restrictions are put in place to reduce virus transmission, prolonged restrictions can lead to changes in health behaviours, such as physical activity. Maintaining an adequate level of physical activity is associated with a lower risk of death and chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety, dementia and several cancers. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, ample evidence points to the importance of physical activity in mitigating the impact of pandemic-associated stress on individuals. Further, evidence also suggests that being physically fit is positively associated with improved immune function. International and Canadian research studies show that many people decreased their level of physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the same data as a previous publication that reported that physical activity remained stable from the fall of 2018 to the fall of 2020 among adults, but decreased among youth, the present paper is a more in-depth analysis that examines whether the impact of the pandemic on physical activity was consistent across sociodemographic characteristics, population groups and geography.

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The unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical activity habits of Canadians

  • Watt J, Colley RC. Youth – but not adults – reported less physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. StatCan COVID-19: Data to Insights for a Better Canada 2021.
  • Colley RC, Langlois K, Bushnik T. Exercise and screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Reports 2020; 31(6): 3-11.
  • Gilmour H. Self-perceived mental health and health-related behaviours of Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. StatCan COVID-19: Data to Insights for a Better Canada 2020.
  • Colley RC, Butler G, Garriguet D, et al. Comparison of self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity among Canadian youth. Health Reports 2019; 30(7): 3-12.
  • Colley RC, Christidis T, Michaud I, et al. The association between walkable neighbourhoods and physical activity across the lifespan. Health Reports 2019; 30(9): 3-13.
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