The role of health impact assessment in mental health emergency preparedness, a scoping review

Abstract

The Health Impact Assessment (HIA) process is used globally to evaluate population health effects from community policies, strategies, programs, and projects. Benefits of HIA can result from incorporating public health evidence in non-health decision making and offers opportunities to emphasize health equity. Specifically, HIA tools can be leveraged to address equity, cost-effectiveness, and efficacy of policies in emerging public health threats. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General announced social isolation and loneliness as an undervalued national epidemic and budding public health emergency. The use of HIA for public health emergency response planning represents a unique opportunity to address the increased risk of isolation and loneliness as facets of overall mental health and wellbeing. We aimed to review HIA use for public health emergencies and their associated impacts on mental health, focusing on loneliness and isolation as symptoms or markers of adverse mental health outcomes. A scoping review of the literature was performed and identified seven articles of interest. We offer insights on barriers, catalysts, and facilitators of the HIA process in emergency response planning. Additionally, we synthesize the identified barriers and facilitators to propose a conceptual thematic visual of HIA engagement to enhance community education and involvement in decision and policy making. Our findings suggest an increasing need for public health emergency preparedness approaches incorporating partnerships and community engagement, particularly through expanded application of HIA methodologies focused on social isolation and loneliness as determinants of mental health outcomes during and after emergencies.