Mental health issues, particularly psychological distress, are crucial public health concerns. Understanding the trends in the prevalence of mental health problems is harder because of the cost and resources associated with conducting diagnostic interviews. While mental health issues are generally linked to sociodemographic factors, little is known about the role played by household-level characteristics and residential built-environment features. This pan-Canadian cross-sectional study uses data from the population-based survey (n = 17230) to examine the relationships between sociodemographic factors, household-level characteristics, neighborhood-built environment features, and people's mental health. Mental health was assessed using two commonly used self-report screening questionnaires: the Kessler 6-item tool (Kessler-6) and the 5-item World Health Organization Well-being Index (WHO-5). Kessler-6 and WHO-5 were negatively correlated, with a -0.72 correlation coefficient. While being males, participants' age, interacting with other people, having an outdoor space at residence, and being from a higher socio-economic status (education and income) were inversely linked with psychological distress, being unemployed, living in an apartment and an area with medium population density was positively associated with the outcome. These associations were reversed when WHO-5 was considered the outcome. Public health interventions should focus on high-risk subgroups to reduce psychological distress in Canada.
Bista et al. (Fri,) studied this question.