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Improving Women's Mental Health during a Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Vlassopoulos, Michael

    (University of Southampton)

  • Siddique, Abu

    (Royal Holloway, University of London)

  • Rahman, Tabassum

    (University of Melbourne)

  • Pakrashi, Debayan

    (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur)

  • Islam, Asadul

    (Monash University)

  • Ahmed, Firoz

    (Khulna University, Bangladesh)

Abstract

In low-income settings, women are vulnerable to the psychological distress caused by the social and economic impact of large-scale shocks (e.g., pandemics, natural disasters, political). This paper evaluates a randomized over-the-phone counseling intervention aimed at mitigating the mental health impact of COVID-19 on a sample of 2,402 women across 357 villages in Bangladesh. We find that the provision of mental support to participating women improves their mental health ten months post-intervention, leading to reductions of 20.4% in the prevalence of moderate and severe stress and 32.8% in depression, relative to women in the control group. We also find positive impacts on economic outcomes: household food security and time invested in homeschooling of children, suggesting that improvement in mental health is an important step toward better economic well-being for these women. Finally, we also observe impacts on various other outcomes, including preventive health behavior associated with COVID-19 and vaccination take-up. Our results suggest that this type of low-cost intervention can be effective in providing rapid psychological support to vulnerable groups in times of crises.

Suggested Citation

  • Vlassopoulos, Michael & Siddique, Abu & Rahman, Tabassum & Pakrashi, Debayan & Islam, Asadul & Ahmed, Firoz, 2021. "Improving Women's Mental Health during a Pandemic," IZA Discussion Papers 14786, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14786
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mental health; COVID-19; food security; telecounseling; randomized experiment; parental investment; rural Bangladesh;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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