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Health systems across the world had to struggle to find a balance between successfully containing the pandemic and dealing with the mental health challenges that have resulted from it. Social distancing has made it more challenging to deliver mental healthcare when patients can no longer meet with their practitioners in person. Therefore, it is essential to make flexible psychological programmes available to reach and meet the needs of those suffering from mental health difficulties.

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After identifying which groups are most vulnerable to mental health challenges, the RESPOND project aimed to reach these groups via psychological programmes developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO): “Doing What Matters in Times of Stress” and “Problem Management Plus”. At first, a lower intensity intervention was provided. Individuals requiring further support moved to the next step and received a more intensive intervention. This is known as “stepped care”. These programmes have shown to be effective and can be implemented both quickly and at a low cost. They were also tailored to the context of the pandemic.

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The project also implemented and adapted cost-effective programmes to help those in need and sought to identify effective strategies to improve health system preparedness in the event of a future pandemic.

The countries targeted in the project were the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and France. Data from the populations of Sweden, Italy, and Spain were used and compared. Other participating countries were: the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme Societal Challenges under Grant Agreement No 101016127.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken by governments to reduce its spread had a strong impact on individuals, and on society at large. Due to the unprecedented scale and nature of the pandemic, little was known about which groups were most vulnerable to mental health challenges resulting from it. The RESPOND project sought to identify these groups and to understand which factors influence their risk of vulnerability, as well as what could help to reduce that risk.