The COVID-19 pandemic and Google Search Trends
Journal of Public Mental Health
ISSN: 1746-5729
Article publication date: 29 January 2024
Issue publication date: 2 April 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the association of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths with mental health, unemployment and financial markets-related search terms for the USA, the UK, India and worldwide using Google Trends.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients to assess the relationship between relative search volumes (RSVs) and mental health, unemployment and financial markets-related search terms, with the total confirmed COVID-19 cases as well as deaths in the USA, UK, India and worldwide. The sample period starts from the day 100 cases were reported for the first time, which is 7 March 2020, 13 March 2020, 23 March 2020 and 28 January 2020 for the US, the UK, India and worldwide, respectively, and ends on 25 June 2020.
Findings
The results indicate a significant increase in anxiety, depression and stress leading to sleeping disorders or insomnia, further deteriorating mental health. The RSVs of employment are negatively significant, implying that people are hesitant to search for new jobs due to being susceptible to exposure, imposed lockdown and social distancing measures and changing employment patterns. The RSVs for financial terms exhibit the varying associations of COVID-19 cases and deaths with the stock market, loans, rent, etc.
Research limitations/implications
This study has implications for the policymakers, health experts and the government. The state governments must provide proper medical facilities and holistic care to the affected population. It may be noted that the findings of this study only lead us to conclude about the relationship between COVID-19 cases and deaths and Google Trends searches, and do not as such indicate the effect on actual behaviour.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to investigate the relationship between the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the USA, UK and India and at the global level and RSVs for mental health-related, job-related and financial keywords.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Availability of data and material: The data sets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Competing interest: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author’s contribution: The authors ensure that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including their title and designation, and that all authors receive the submission and all substantive correspondence with editors, as well as the full reviews, verifying that all data, figures, materials comply with the transparency and reproducibility standards of both the field and journal.
Citation
Alam, M., Aziz, T. and Ansari, V.A. (2024), "The COVID-19 pandemic and Google Search Trends", Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 55-63. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-07-2023-0058
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited