COVID-19 lockdown had significant toll on New Zealanders' well-being, study reveals

Research has confirmed the nationwide Alert Level 4 COVID-19 lockdown had a significant toll on New Zealanders' well-being, especially for younger people - but the results were not all negative. Researchers from the University of Otago conducted a demographically representative survey of adult New Zealanders between 15 and 18 April, corresponding to days 19 to 22 of the 33-day lockdown. They found almost a third of participants experienced mental distress during the lockdown, but that many people also experienced some form of 'silver linings'. They asked Kiwis about their levels of stress, anxiety and depression, about the state of their family relationships and whether there were any positive outcomes from lockdown. Dr Susanna Every-Palmer, the Head of the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington, says 30 per cent of those surveyed reported moderate to severe psychological distress and 16 per cent had moderate to high levels of anxiety. Almost 40 per cent said their level of well-being was low.