Self-rated mental health among sexual health service clients during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, British Columbia, Canada

Salway, Travis; Ablona, Aidan; Chang, Hsiu-Ju; Watt, Sarah; Worthington, Catherine; Grace, Daniel; Wong, Jason; Ogilvie, Gina; Grennan, Troy; Gilbert, Mark

We investigated self-reported mental health during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March–May 2020), using a survey of HIV-testing and sexual health service clients from British Columbia, Canada (N = 1198). Over half (55%) reported their mental health as poor at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than double that of the general Canadian population in the same time frame (22%). Acknowledging that this burden of poor mental health that is likely to persist in the coming years, we propose that sexual health clinics should facilitate access to mental health supports as a low-barrier point of primary care contact.