Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on society's overall mental health. Measures such as mandated lockdowns and physical distancing have contributed to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and other metrics indicating worsening mental health. Peer support, which is peer-to-peer provided social and emotional support, is an underutilized and effective mental health resource that can potentially be used to ameliorate mental health during these times.Objective: This review aims to summarize the toll that this pandemic has had on society's mental health as found in peer-reviewed literature from October 2019 to March 2021, as well as suggest the utility of peer support to address these needs.Methods: References for this review were chosen through searches of PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for articles published between October 2019 and March 2021 that used the terms: “coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” “mental health,” “anxiety,” “depression,” “isolation,” “mental health resources,” “peer support,” “online mental health resources,” and “healthcare workers.” Articles resulting from these searches and relevant references cited in those articles were reviewed. Articles published in English, French and Italian were included.Results: This pandemic has ubiquitously worsened the mental health of populations across the world. Peer support has been demonstrated to yield generally positive effects on the mental health of a wide variety of recipients, and it can be provided through numerous accessible mediums.Conclusions: Peer support can overall be beneficial for improving mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and may be an effective tool should similar events arise in the future, although the presence of a few conflicting studies suggests the need for additional research.

Background University students often experience numerous financial, social and emotional stressors that can affect their mental health. The Peer Support Centre (PSC) is a pilot project that was established to provide peer support to students in these stressful conditions. We wanted to investigate whether peer support is a viable form of support that would benefit university students. The objective of this study is to determine whether the organization was indeed providing a beneficial service to students and if it was fulfilling the needs of the students that visited the service. Methods After a support session, students and peer support providers completed an anonymous questionnaire regarding their self-reported mental wellbeing using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) metrics, and Outcome Rating Scale (ORS). They were also asked about their experience with previous professional mental health services as well as their experience at the PSC. With the data collected from 1043 students and 797 volunteers from September 2016–March 2020, a program evaluation was conducted for quality improvement purposes. Results The PSC is used by students of different sexes, genders, and ethnicities. Students reported having a low ORS score, moderate anxiety as per the GAD-7 and moderate depression according to the PHQ-9. They find it easy to use and rely on it as an alternative form of support when they approach barriers that prevent them from accessing professional services. Lastly, the peer support providers feel very validated in their role and overall quite prepared and helpful when helping their fellow peers. Conclusions The establishment of a student service that provides peer support would be beneficial to the members of a university/college campus.

BACKGROUND The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on society’s overall mental health with a notable effect on healthcare providers. To manage this global crisis, governments have had to implement numerous measures such mandated lockdowns and physical distancing to minimize the risk of overloading healthcare systems. Altogether, these measures have contributed to higher levels of anxiety, depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other metrics indicating worsening mental health. Unfortunately, the availability of crucial mental health resources and support remains scarce during this time as services attempt to transition to an effective online delivery model. Peer support, which is peer-to-peer provided social and emotional support, is an underutilized and effective mental health resource that is easily delivered/accessed in-person by members within a social distancing bubble, or virtually across different bubbles. OBJECTIVE This review aims to summarize the toll that this pandemic has had on society’s mental health as found in peer-reviewed literature from October 2019 to March 2021, as well as suggest the utility of peer support to address these needs. Lastly, we provide strategies to effectively deliver peer support so that members of the community can better support one another during these unprecedented times. METHODS References for this review were chosen through searches of PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for articles published between October 2019 and March 2021 that used the terms: “coronavirus”, “COVID-19”, “mental health”, “anxiety”, “depression”, “isolation”, “mental health resources”, “peer support”, “online mental health resources”, and “healthcare workers”. Articles resulting from these searches and relevant references cited in those articles were reviewed. Articles published in English, French and Italian were included. RESULTS As stated in peer-reviewed literature, this pandemic has ubiquitously worsened the mental health of populations across the world, which is further exacerbated by extended periods of lockdown. Peer support has been demonstrated to yield positive effects on the mental health of a wide variety of recipients, and it can be provided through numerous accessible mediums such as web/mobile applications, video-conferencing software, workshops, telephone services, and student programs. CONCLUSIONS The provision of peer support can be very beneficial for improving mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and may be an effective tool should similar events arise in the future. CLINICALTRIAL N/A

Background: University/college campuses are a rigorous academic environment that also contain numerous financial, social and emotional stressors that often result in the deterioration of students’ mental health. The Peer Support Centre (PSC) is a pilot project that was established to provide peer support to students in these stressful conditions. We wanted to investigate whether peer support is a viable form of support that would benefit university students. The objective of this study is to determine whether the organization was indeed providing a beneficial service to students and if it was fulfilling the needs of the students that visited the service.Methods: After a support session, students (also referred to as supportees) were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire regarding their self-reported mental wellbeing, their experience with previous professional mental health services, and their experience at the PSC. There weren’t any selection criteria for either the supportees or volunteers as the completion of the questionnaire was completely voluntary. Additionally, volunteers (also referred to as supporters) were asked to complete a similar questionnaire after conducting a support session. With the data collected from 1043 supportees and 797 volunteers from September 2016 – March 2020, a program evaluation was conducted for quality improvement purposes. The responses to the questionnaires were analysed by calculating the means, modes, standard deviations and performing Two-Sample t-tests.Results: The PSC is used by a wide variety of students of different sexes, genders, ethnicities. Students reported having a low ORS score, moderate anxiety as per the GAD-7 and moderate depression according to the PHQ-9. They find it easy to use and rely on it as an alternative form of support when they approach barriers that prevent them from accessing professional services. Lastly, the supporters feel very validated in their role and overall quite prepared and helpful when helping their fellow peers.Conclusions: The established of a service that delivers peer support would be beneficial to the students on a university or college campus as it can serve as a complement to professional services.