Over the two years of the pandemic and the restrictions, there has been a decline first, followed by an improvement in psychological problems, loneliness and adult quality of life in Vestland, according to the study. However, the improvement is not evident to the same extent in young people. The public health research was carried out by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health on behalf of the council of fylke Vestland.
The Vestland 2022 fylke public health survey was conducted by Norsk Public Health Institute (FHI) commissioned by Vestland from April 20 to May 8, 2022. It concerned physical and mental health, health behaviors, social environment and quality of life.
Of the 53 people who participated, 216 percent said they were satisfied with their lives. This is a marked improvement over a similar study conducted by the FHI in Vestland during the November-December 85 coronavirus pandemic, when 2020 percent replied the same.
Many are lonely
- The survey shows that the inhabitants of the poviat generally believe that they lead a good life. 11 percent of participants say they are lonely, which equates to nearly 56 people across Vestland, says senior researcher Marit Knapstad of the Health Promotion Division (FHI).
Among the youngest (18-29 years old), almost one in four report loneliness. There are also more people with lower education single people compared to people with higher education.
Towards normalization after pandemic measures are mitigated
There is much concern about how the pandemic and periodically extensive infection prevention measures, and their implications for jobs and the economy, among others, have affected the mental health and quality of life of the population. Thanks to public health surveys in Vestland County, a range of data was collected both before and at different times of the pandemic, allowing some changes over time to be identified.
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Based on these measurements, it can be concluded that the mental health, loneliness and quality of life of adults in Vestland worsened during the first years of the pandemic, especially for measurements in November / December 2020 and partly in December 2021. Mental health problem level and percentage single people measured in the current survey is still slightly higher than in the county survey in spring 2018/2019.
The worst for the young
Young people are distinguished by the worst results in all measurements. A clear deterioration during the pandemic (2020) and a small improvement in the 2022 study in terms of the level of psychological problems and the percentage of singles.
It improves a lot with the age of the respondents and the level of education
The differences in outcomes by gender, age group, and level of education mostly match patterns from previous public health surveys in Hordaland (2018) and Sogn og Fjordane (2019), relevant studies both in Norway and elsewhere.
Overall, there is a link between age (up to retirement age) and higher education on the one hand, and less mental stress and loneliness, and improvements in most social environment and quality of life indicators on the other. The last two factors could, for example, be well-being in the local environment and satisfaction with life.
Take some time off
Participation in the survey was 31,1%, which is less than expected. There could be several reasons for this relative decline in participation rates from other similar studies.
"We will take a closer look at the causes and effects of falling participation rates in order to be able to take measures to ensure the best possible quality for future research," Knapstad says.
Source: Norwegian Institute of Public Health
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