The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health: A Scoping Review

Background This scoping review assessed the COVID-19 impacts on mental health and associated risk factors. Methods A systematic literature search for relevant articles published in the period March 2020 to July 2022, was conducted in the APA PsychInfo, JBI Evidence Synthesis, Epistemonikos, PubMed, and Cochrane databases. Results A total of 72 studies met the inclusion criteria. Results showed that the commonly used mental health assessment tools were the Patient Health Questionnaire (41.7%), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (36%), 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (13.9%), Impact of Event Scale (12.5%), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (9.7%), Symptom Checklist and the General Health Questionnaire (6.9% each). The prevalence rate of depression ranged from 5-76.5%, 5.6-80.5% for anxiety, 9.1-65% for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 8.3-61.7% for sleep disorders, 4.9-70.1% for stress, 7-71.5% for psychological distress, and 21.4-69.3% for general mental health conditions. The major risks included female gender, healthcare-related/frontline jobs, isolation/quarantine, poverty, lower education, COVID-19 risk, age, commodities, mental illness history, negative psychology, and higher social media exposure. The incidence of mental disorders increased along with the increasing cases of COVID-19 and the corresponding government restrictions. Conclusion Standard assessment tools were used for mental health assessment by the reviewed studies which were conducted during COVID-19. Mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and stress increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Various factors impacted the prevalence of mental health disorders. Policymakers need to provide social protective measures to improve coping capacities during critical health events to avoid negative impacts on the population. Further studies should investigate the effectiveness of interventions for reducing the prevalence and risk factors for mental health conditions during a public health challenge.