Quarantine and Mental Health During COVID-19: Exploring the Impact on Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Ideation Among Adults in Canada

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant public health measures, including mandatory quarantine, which had potential mental health implications. This thesis investigated the association between mandatory quarantine and mental health outcomes, specifically depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, among adults in Canada. Objectives: The primary objective was to assess whether mandatory quarantine due to close contact with a COVID-19 case was associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Secondary objectives included identifying key demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial factors that may act as effect modifiers or confounders to these associations. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from a national survey by Mental Health Research Canada. The study sample included 3012 Canadian adults who participated in the sixth poll conducted in April 2021. Logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between quarantine and the mental health outcomes, adjusting for potential confounders such as age, prior mood disorders, and resilience. Results: Quarantine was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms after adjusting for confounders (AOR = 1.25, 95% CI: 0.90 to 1.73). Similarly, no significant association was found between quarantine and suicidal ideation (AOR = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.69 to 1.65). However, strong associations were observed for other factors. Having a history of a prior mood disorder was significantly associated with both depressive symptoms (AOR = 5.02, 95% CI: 4.07 to 6.20) and suicidal ideation (AOR = 5.97, 95% CI: 4.05 to 7.92). Older age was consistently protective against both outcomes, with the 65+ age group showing the lowest odds of depressive symptoms (AOR = 0.27, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.39) and suicidal ideation (AOR = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.14 to 0.42). Conclusions: While quarantine itself was not a significant predictor of depressive symptoms or suicidal ideation after adjusting for confounders, the findings underscored the importance of considering pre-existing mood disorders and demographic factors in understanding mental health risks during public health crises. Targeted interventions for high-risk populations, particularly those with a history of mood disorders, remain crucial in mitigating the mental health impacts of such crises in the future.

Department dc:contributor.department

Public Health Sciences

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Towheed, Shahnawaz

Advisor dc:contributor.supervisor

• Heather, Stuart

• quarantine
• depressive symptoms
• suicidal ideation
• covid-19
• pandemic
• mental health
• self-isolation
• canada

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1974/33560

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:queensu.scholaris.ca:1974/33560