The COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on mental and psychosocial health in the Philippines: A scoping review

Abstract

Low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) remained at elevated risk for the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic because of persistent stressors to their health systems. Simultaneously facing high infection rates, strict containment measures and natural disasters, the Philippines provides important grounds for health research in LMICs. This review examined how the COVID-19 pandemic affected mental and psychosocial health in the Philippines. This scoping review included literature in English from 2020 to mid-2022 from PubMed, PsycInfo and SCOPUS, and used the PRISMA-ScR and PCC-question model. Two independent reviewers conducted blind article screening and data extraction using COVIDENCE software, followed by consensus building, data charting and analyses. This work identified 405 publications across PubMed (N = 56), PsycInfo (N = 106) and SCOPUS (N = 243), of which 76 articles addressed the Philippines. Article types included 54 research articles, 10 opinion pieces, 4 literature reviews, 6 letters to journals, 1 study protocol and 1 other report. These findings focused primarily on health professionals (N = 23) and educators/learners (N = 22) and reported mostly on moderateto-severe clinical outcomes such as fear, depression, anxiety or stress. Coping behaviors, like resiliency and other ways of adapting to the pandemic, including religious, spiritual and community-oriented approaches highlighted experiences with stringent infection prevention and control measures to contain COVID-19 in the Philippines. The COVID-19 pandemic brought severe challenges to mental and psychosocial health in the Philippines. The literature focused mostly on healthcare workers and educators/learners, and moderate-to-severe mental health outcomes in these groups. There is a need to expand studies to other sociodemographic groups and communities across the Philippines. Future work stands to benefit from more in-depth qualitative, mixed methods, longitudinal and representative quantitative research in LMICs following this pandemic. Literature reviews remain important to synthesize postpandemic experiences by providing context for future studies and health practice in the Philippines and other LMICs. Impact statementThis scoping review of research literature found and described the emerging evidence base outlining comprehensive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental and psychosocial health in the Philippines. This work addressed existing knowledge gaps by bringing light to literature that looked at concrete health outcomes such as anxiety and depression, as well as highlighting some of the daily stressors facing the population in an LMIC setting such as the Philippines. Specifically, this article reflects the literature that was published during the first 2 years of the pandemic and contributes substantially to providing an overview of what research was done during this time. This article's discussion anchors its findings in the country's local context. This body of literature largely documented the mental and psychosocial health impacts spe...