23% of respondents to MHRC’s national survey reported experiencing moderate to severe symptoms of depression.

We turn to Canadians with lived experience to explore risk factors of depression, with a focus on the informal caregiving burden.

Researchers are only beginning to understand the impact of the informal caregiving burden on mental health throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond. Emerging Canadian studies point to increased vulnerability to anxiety and depression for families with additional eldercare and childcare obligations. This research brief uses MHRC's comprehensive dataset to explore factors contributing to symptoms of depression (as measured on the PHQ-9 clinical screener), with a focus on the informal caregiving burden, and special consideration of demographic characteristics.

Key findings:

• One in five Canadians (23%) self-reported moderate to severe symptoms of depression.

• Canadians who self-identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, caregivers and women are more likely to experience symptoms of depression.

• Canadians aged 55 and above who are in charge of caring for children and older family members are 2.5 times more likely to experience more severe symptoms of depression compared to those living alone at this age.

• Parents are 1.3 times more likely to experience more severe symptoms of depression than non-parents.

• Canadians who reported having consistently good relationships with friends and family “most of the time” were 75% less likely to experience severe symptoms of depression.

A collection of our previously released research briefs providing an in-depth investigation of our polling results can be found here.