Improving Women's Mental Health during a Pandemic

Michael Vlassopoulos, Abu Siddique, Tabassum Rahman, Debayan Pakrashi, Asad Islam and Firoz Ahmed

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 422-55

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.

JEL-codes: I12 I18 I31 J16 O12 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Working Paper: Improving Women's Mental Health During a Pandemic (2021)
Working Paper: Improving Women's Mental Health during a Pandemic (2021)
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DOI: 10.1257/app.20210655

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