New York City (NYC) was an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in broad economic, social, and emotional consequences in the lives of individuals. The current study examined associations between pandemic-related stressors and adverse mental health symptoms among NYC parents/caregivers. Community-based participatory research was used to develop a survey, and logistic regression models were utilized to assess associations between factors including disruptions in child routines and remote learning, and parent-reported symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some 91.0% of parents reported stress and 41.2, 26.6, and 33.7% reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD, respectively. Most parents (87.6%) reported cancellation of at least one child activity. Of the parents, 60.3% reported that their children participated in remote learning and the majority (70.3%) reported feeling overwhelmed by it. Having more cancelled child activities was associated with higher odds of reported mental health symptoms, with not being able to play outside associated with higher odds of anxiety (1.80 (1.26, 2.58), p = 0.001), depression (1.93 (1.29, 2.91), p = 0.002), PTSD (1.64 (1.13, 2.39), p = 0.009), and stress (2.34 (1.27, 4.44), p = 0.008). Feeling overwhelmed by remote learning was also associated with higher odds of all four outcomes. Pre-existing mental illness, lower resilience scores, and lower socioeconomic status emerged as additional factors associated with symptoms of mental illness. These findings highlight the importance of resources to minimize adverse psychological effects among vulnerable families.

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic altered the research landscape dramatically, but the need to understand impacts on communities through research was as great as ever. In this paper, we detail the adaptive processes we leveraged to bring a network of community and academic partners together virtually and collaboratively build a survey reaching diverse populations, the challenges we faced, and what ultimately facilitated our success. The largest driver of our work was our shared goal of gaining a better understanding of the psychosocial impacts of the pandemic on New Yorkers in order to address their needs more meaningfully. Pre-existing relationships with community partners and flexible working processes grounded in equity also supported the functioning of the team. While participant recruitment proved to be challenging, the team pivoted and employed several strategies to reach our intended audiences and increase participation. This paper includes community stakeholders’ reflections on facilitators and barriers to survey development and recruitment in the context of a pandemic, as well as considerations for moving forward with virtual community-engaged research under challenging circumstances. In addition to sharing the collaborative processes that we built, our research-to-action network’s outputs, and our reflections on successes and roadblocks we faced, this paper highlights lessons in the importance of flexibility, trust, and innovation when conducting collaborative research during rapidly evolving public health crises.