Improving Women’s Mental Health during a Pandemic

Authors

Michael Vlassopoulos, University of Southampton
Abu Siddique, Royal Holloway, University of London
Tabassum Rahman, University of Melbourne
Debayan Pakrashi, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Asad Islam, Monash University
Firoz Ahmed, Technische Universität München

Article Type

Research Article

Publication Title

American Economic Journal Applied Economics

Abstract

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 two hours of mental support plus information on COVID-19 improves mental health ten months postintervention, leading to reductions of 20 percent in the prevalence of moderate and severe stress and 33 percent in depression. Our results suggest that this type of low-cost intervention ($14 per person) can be effective in providing rapid psychological support to vulnerable groups in times of crises.

First Page

422

Last Page

455

DOI

10.1257/app.20210655

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Comments

Open Access; Green Open Access

Recommended Citation

Vlassopoulos, Michael; Siddique, Abu; Rahman, Tabassum; Pakrashi, Debayan; Islam, Asad; and Ahmed, Firoz, "Improving Women’s Mental Health during a Pandemic" (2024). Journal Articles. 4845.
https://digitalcommons.isical.ac.in/journal-articles/4845