Knipe, D;
Gunnell, D;
Evans, H;
John, A;
Fancourt, D;
(2021)
Is Google Trends a useful tool for tracking mental and social distress during a public health emergency? A time–series analysis.
Journal of Affective Disorders
, 294
pp. 737-744.
10.1016/j.jad.2021.06.086.
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Abstract
Background: Google Trends data are increasingly used by researchers as an indicator of population mental health, but few studies have investigated the validity of this approach during a public health emergency. / Methods: Relative search volumes (RSV) for the topics depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide, suicidal ideation, loneliness, and abuse were obtained from Google Trends. We used graphical and time-series approaches to compare daily trends in searches for these topics against population measures of these outcomes recorded using validated self-report scales (PHQ-9; GAD-7; UCLA-3) in a weekly survey (n = ~70,000) of the impact COVID-19 on psychological and social experiences in the UK population (21/03/2020 to 21/08/ 2020). / Results: Self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, self-harm/suicidal ideation, self-harm, loneliness and abuse decreased during the period studied. There was no evidence of an association between self-reported anxiety, self-harm, abuse and RSV on Google Trends. Trends in Google topic RSV for depression and suicidal ideation were inversely associated with self-reports of these outcomes (p = 0.03 and p = 0.04, respectively). However, there was statistical and graphical evidence that self-report and Google searches for loneliness (p < 0.001) tracked one another. / Limitations: No age/sex breakdown of Google Trends data available. Survey respondents were not representative of the UK population and no pre-pandemic data were available. Conclusion: Google Trends data do not appear to be a useful indicator of changing levels of population mental health during a public health emergency, but may have some value as an indicator of loneliness.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Is Google Trends a useful tool for tracking mental and social distress during a public health emergency? A time–series analysis |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jad.2021.06.086 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.06.086 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Mental Health, Pandemic, Suicide, Depression, Loneliness, Anxiety, Domestic violence |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10133048 |
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