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Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is expected to have widespread and pervasive implications for mental health in terms of deteriorating outcomes and increased health service use, leading to calls for empirical research on mental health during the pandemic. Internet-based psychological measurement can play an important role in collecting imperative data, assisting to guide evidence-based decision making in practice and policy, and subsequently facilitating immediate reporting of measurement results to participants. Objective The aim of this study is to use an internet-based mental health measurement platform to compare the mental health profile of community members during COVID-19 with community members assessed before the pandemic. Methods This study uses an internet-based self-assessment tool to collect data on psychological distress, mental well-being, and resilience in community cohorts during (n=673) and prior to the pandemic (two cohorts, n=1264 and n=340). Results Our findings demonstrate significantly worse outcomes on all mental health measures for participants measured during COVID-19 compared to those measured before (P<.001 for all outcomes, effect sizes ranging between Cohen d=0.32 to Cohen d=0.81. Participants who demonstrated problematic scores for at least one of the mental health outcomes increased from 58% (n=197/340) before COVID-19 to 79% (n=532/673) during COVID-19, leading to only 21% (n=141) of measured participants displaying good mental health during the pandemic. Conclusions The results clearly demonstrate deterioration in mental health outcomes during COVID-19. Although further research is needed, our findings support the serious mental health implications of the pandemic and highlight the utility of internet-based data collection tools in providing evidence to innovate and strengthen practice and policy during and after the pandemic.

Mental wellbeing is an increasingly relevant outcome in clinical psychology, and rigorous measurement tools are required to ensure high quality data. This study aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze the factor structure of a popular measurement tool of mental wellbeing, the Mental Health Continuum—Short Form (MHC-SF). The systematic review identified 46 studies which investigated the performance of the MHC-SF, which consistently supported the psychometric properties of the scale. Meta-analytic structural equation modelling (MASEM) was used with data extracted from 26 studies (n = 108,603). MASEM indicated support for the original tripartite structure of the MHC-SF, as well as a hierarchical model and a bifactor model. The hierarchical model (and the nested tripartite model) was supported theoretically and performed similarly across clinical and general populations. The current study demonstrates that the MHC-SF is a valid measure of general mental wellbeing, which taps into concepts of emotional, social, and psychological wellbeing in general and clinical populations. Caution may be required when comparing scores across clinical and non-clinical cohorts.

ObjectiveHealth services staff work in a stressful environment, which can negatively impact their mental health and wellbeing, and as a result can affect psychosocial and professional functioning. The implementation of resilience training aims to provide staff with basic psychological skills to improve mental health outcomes. The aim of the current pre-post study was to determine the short-term effects of group-based resilience training on clinical and non-clinical medical staff’s (n = 40) mental health outcomes.ResultsThe study showed statistically significant improvements in resilience (r = 0.51, p = 0.02) and wellbeing (d = 0.29, p = 0.001) from before to 1 month after the training. Participants with the lowest wellbeing and resilience scores at start of the training showed higher effect sizes compared to those with highest wellbeing and resilience scores, (r = 0.67 compared to r = − 0.36 for wellbeing scores and d = 0.92 compared to d = 0.24 for resilience scores); differences that point to particular impact of the training for people with the lowest baseline values. No significant changes in psychological distress as a result of depression, anxiety and stress were found. Brief implications of the findings for mental health and wellbeing interventions in the health services are discussed.

Prisoners display significantly higher rates of mental disorders and lower mental wellbeing than the general population. The integration of positive psychological interventions in offender supervision has received recent advocacy. The aim of the current pre-post pilot study was to determine the short-term effects of group-based resilience training on mental health outcomes for female offenders and explore intervention acceptability. Offenders ( n = 24) self-selected to partake in a multi-component psychological skill program based on positive psychology, cognitive–behavioural therapy, and mindfulness-based activities. The training was taught in nine sessions of 1.5 hr each. Baseline and follow-up measurements of mental wellbeing and psychological distress were collected and focus groups conducted to investigate participants’ experiences, acceptability, and appropriateness of the training. Moderate to large effect sizes indicating significant improvements were observed for wellbeing, g = 0.75 and distress, g = 0.56. Training was well received by participants and staff and was delivered feasibly within the prison context. The results are encouraging, and a future well-powered study using a rigorous controlled design is warranted.