Virtual community outreach to examine resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: COVID-19 has had profound effects on individuals' physical and mental health Resilience, the ability to adapt in the face of adversity, is an emerging topic in healthcare, grounded by several international public health frameworks Promisingly, when people report their strengths, it promotes resilience and prepares individuals to encounter challenges The purpose of this study was to examine individual and community strengths, challenges, and needs in two metropolitan mid-western cities during the COVID- 19 pandemic using a web-based application, MyStrengths+MyHealth (MSMH) Methods: We employed a virtual outreach using social media messaging via Facebook (20), Instagram (5), LinkedIn (5), Twitter (5), Email messages (43) and WhatsApp (10);ResearchMatch (1627) Participants (>18) were invited to participate and self-identify their strengths, challenges, and needs using MSMH MSMH uses a consumer-facing plain language version of the Omaha System, a multi-disciplinary standardized health terminology Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics Results: Preliminary results showed (N=319) participants had more strengths than challenges and needs with an average strengths self-reported rating 4 11 out of 5 Top strength Safe at work and home (84 3%);Top Challenge limited social time (50%);and Top Need Info/Guidance for Mental Health (40 5%) Communication with community resources (Connecting in MSMH) was found to uniquely correlate with strengths Conclusion: It was feasible to examine resilience operationalized as strengths by health concept using MSMH application Communication with community resources pattern of correlated strengths suggests MSMH may offer a simple yet meaningful measure of resilience Findings emphasized the importance of resilience as a way to work within communities to address the challenges we face during extreme circumstances Assessing whole-person health, including strengths, can facilitate person-centered care and enable focused clinical conversations and the 'right' allocation of resources Self-reported community needs provide actionable data for community-members, decision-makers, and researchers