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Correlates of wanting to seek help for mental health and substance use concerns by sexual and gender minority young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: A machine learning analysis.
Kundu, Anasua; Fu, Rui; Grace, Daniel; Logie, Carmen H; Abramovich, Alex; Baskerville, Bruce; Yager, Christina; Schwartz, Robert; Mitsakakis, Nicholas; Planinac, Lynn; Chaiton, Michael.
  • Kundu A; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Fu R; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.
  • Grace D; Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Logie CH; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Sunnybrook Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Abramovich A; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Baskerville B; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Yager C; Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Schwartz R; United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment & Health, Hamilton, Canada.
  • Mitsakakis N; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.
  • Planinac L; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
  • Chaiton M; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
PLoS One ; 17(11): e0277438, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2119313
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the mental health and substance use challenges among many people who are Two Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and intersex (2SLGBTQI+). We aimed to identify the important correlates and their effects on the predicted likelihood of wanting to seek help among 2SLGBTQI+ young adults for mental health or substance use concerns during the pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2020-2021 among 2SLGBTQI+ young adults aged 16-29 living in two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec). Among 1414 participants, 77% (n = 1089) wanted to seek help for their mental health or substance use concerns during the pandemic, out of these, 69.8% (n = 760) reported delay in accessing care. We built a random forest (RF) model to predict the status of wanting to seek help, which achieved moderately high performance with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.85. The top 10 correlates of wanting to seek help were worsening mental health, age, stigma and discrimination, and adverse childhood experiences. The interactions of adequate housing with certain sexual orientations, gender identities and mental health challenges were found to increase the likelihood of wanting to seek help. We built another RF model for predicting risk of delay in accessing care among participants who wanted to seek help (n = 1089). The model identified a similar set of top 10 correlates of delay in accessing care but lacked adequate performance (AUC 0.61). These findings can direct future research and targeted prevention measures to reduce health disparities for 2SLGBTQI+ young adults.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Substance-Related Disorders / Sexual and Gender Minorities / COVID-19 Type of study: Observational study / Prognostic study / Qualitative research / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Adult / Female / Humans / Young adult Country/Region as subject: North America Language: English Journal: PLoS One Journal subject: Science / Medicine Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Journal.pone.0277438

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Substance-Related Disorders / Sexual and Gender Minorities / COVID-19 Type of study: Observational study / Prognostic study / Qualitative research / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Adult / Female / Humans / Young adult Country/Region as subject: North America Language: English Journal: PLoS One Journal subject: Science / Medicine Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Journal.pone.0277438