Coastal Community Resilience: A pilot study on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in a south Texas ethnic minority community.

Keywords: COVID-19, Post-Pandemic, Community Resilience, Mental Health, Post-Disaster Mental Health, Anxiety, Depression
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Good mental health is central to the well-being of people. Both large-scale natural or environmental disasters are always accompanied by increases in depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among residents in Nueces County, Texas, during the summer of 2022 to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on depression and anxiety. Nueces County’s population is over 64% Hispanic, making it the most common ethnic group. A total of 177 participants have been surveyed. The survey questions include basic socio-demographic information and self-reported depression and anxiety before COVID-19. In addition, to evaluate the participants’ depression and anxiety, we adopted respectively the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 questionnaires. According to a statistical power analysis using G*Power we conducted, 165 participants would make the regression model with 32 independent variables sensitive enough to detect an effect size of f2=0.18 (α=0.05; power=0.80). ) By applying ordinal logistic regression, our findings highlighted those who had depression and/anxiety before COVID-19 were impacted significantly and their depression and/or anxiety disorders were getting worse due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adults with less education are more likely to have depression and/or anxiety compared with those who had received higher education. Surprisingly, compared to non-Hispanic adults, Hispanic adults in Nueces County were impacted less by both depression and anxiety due to COVID-19. These findings will help determine what populations to target for improvement of mental health, which will contribute to evaluation, assistance, and improvement of our community’s physical, behavioral, and social health after COVID-19.