University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute Healthy Minds researchers, Dr Dara Sampson and Dr Louise Thornton are launching a mood-tracking app called the MindPulse Program to gather real-time data on people’s mental health. With five simple questions, the researchers are hoping to understand the impact of a range of factors, including climate change and severe weather-related news and events, on people’s mental health.  

Study co-lead, Dr Sampson, says that climate change intersects with mental health in the sense that the poorest and most disadvantaged groups in society tend to be the most affected.  

Dr Sampson says, “Impacts of climate change are not being felt uniformly, with those people with least economic power being disproportionally affected. In recognition of the intersectional disadvantage climate change is exacerbating, real-time data on mental wellbeing is vital in order to provide a ‘snapshot’ of issues of concern across different locations and priority populations.  

The MindPulse Program will launch in the Hunter region first and, contingent on funding, will hopefully roll out nationally. 

The data from the app will be assessed to see what impacts people the most, whether it’s severe weather events like heat waves, storms, bushfires, or floods, or secondary impacts of climate change like increased food prices and energy bills.  

“Similar to tools used to track outbreaks of flu, the MindPulse Program will revolutionise the way Australia collects and utilises mental health and wellbeing information,” says Dr Sampson.  

The data that is collected will enable healthcare providers, researchers and government agencies to mobilise interventions and support, thereby challenging individual approaches and reshaping the mental health policy landscape. 

Giving a voice to regional Australia 

Dr Sampson’s research group has considerable experience using digital tools in the mental health space. The team launched Eclipse, a digital support tool for people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.  

In the same way digital tools can provide an ‘always on’ service to people everywhere, Dr Sampson says that things like the MindPulse Program are able to provide information on mental health sentiment in regional, rural and remote areas that are notoriously underserviced by mental health services.  

“There’s a real service delivery issue because there’s high staff turnover in these areas,” says Dr Sampson. 

People who live and rely on the land for their livelihoods have always been among the first to feel the brunt of natural disasters when crops get wiped out or herds are decimated.  

“By engaging consumers as researchers who are contributing to a data set, people feel as though they have a voice and a purpose. 

“One of the main challenges of climate change is that it can feel so big. What can one person do? Climate change is one of the most politicised things in the last 20 years. There are still people, including politicians, that are saying climate change is not real. This creates a lot of doubt and uncertainty, as well as a lot of inaction, for people. Sometimes when things feel overwhelming it can be hard to know what to do to make a change,” says Dr Sampson.  

The goal of stage one 

The goal of the first phase of the project is to get enough information to meet an academic and practitioner level of acceptability.  

“The next step will be to ask how we can use that data to shape services delivery and inform policy,” says Dr Sampson. 

“Once we know what the needs are, we can work out how to service these cohorts of people.”  

The researchers are currently finalising what questions they will ask in the app through their Expert Advisory Group so they can load them into the prototype.  

Then they will recruit the first round of participants to create the first mental health snapshot looking at general wellbeing.  

Once this is done, Dr Sampson and her team will start adding questions about the environment and other structural things like the impact of Reserve Bank of Australia interest rates rises, housing prices, rental market prices, the cost of groceries, electricity and gas.  

“What impacts people crosses over into climate change,” says Dr Sampson,  

“What happens if we move away from fossil fuels? This is a big thing for the Hunter region as there will be job losses. Climate change affects everything from jobs right through to food security right through to land security. 

“The annual cost of mental health to the economy is $220 billion. This is through a loss of productivity as well as the cost to our under-resourced health system,” says Dr Sampson. 

“As climate change gathers pace, there will be increased debate about whether we should adopt mitigation strategies or adaptation strategies. 

“The recommendations are that the biggest polluters will attract the biggest penalties to level the playing field for poorer countries that are impacted more but pollute less.  

“Australia is going to be high on the list of the big polluters so the penalties could be steep. That financial impact will ripple through the economy and, once again, hit the poorest, most disadvantaged people the hardest,” says Dr Sampson.  

If you are interested in participating in MindPulse, you can find out more here

This article was previously featured in Research Australia