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?:abstract
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BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 period can potentially be categorized as a traumatic event Public health surveillance is one of the cornerstones of public health practice and it empowers decision-makers to lead and manage public health crises and programs more effectively by providing timely, useful evidence OBJECTIVE: To identify, track, and monitor trends of the populations at risk of major depressive disorders and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic METHODS: This study utilizes continuous cross-sectional national level mental health screening via computer-assisted phone interviews, conducted in four waves on a monthly basis (between May and August 2020) Arabic-speaking adults, aged 18 years and above, from Saudi Arabia, were recruited via a random phone list This surveillance system used the proportional quota sampling technique to achieve an equal distribution of participants, stratified by age and gender, and region, within and across the 13 administrative regions of Saudi Arabia A sample size of 4,056 participants per wave was calculated to achieve enough power to detect changes in mental health status The questionnaire includes the Arabic version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to measure depressive symptoms and the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to measure anxiety;in addition, it collects data on sociodemographic variables and potential risk factors RESULTS: The study recruitment started in May 2020 and the final report is expected to be completed by the end of October 2020 CONCLUSIONS: The monitoring of population mental health status during the COVID-19 epidemic will inform decision-makers of any potential deterioration in mental health on a national level and among subgroups, including regions, age groups and gender groups It will allow the decision makers to signal issues and intervene early It will also provide valuable scientific data to help in understanding the effect of such epidemics on mental health, as it is as far as we know, the only study that attempts to monitor mental health status of the general population on a monthly basis
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