This text is part of the special booklet Beyond a Statistic
Half of Quebecers do not have a sufficient level of literacy to function independently in our information societies. And that makes them more vulnerable when it comes to dealing with mental health issues, especially during the pandemic.
“Here in Canada, we live in such a competitive society. If, with your level of literacy, you cannot have a good job, you are not able to pay for your basic needs, you can have health problems which will lead you to mental health problems”, calculates Sahar Asefi, community coordinator of Frontier College, a Canadian literacy organization founded in 1899.
“Especially during the pandemic, we saw that people with a low level of literacy had more mental health problems,” she continues. They did not know how to use the Zoom and Teams platforms. They stayed away from integration, francization and literacy services. »
While there’s been a lot of talk about mental health during the pandemic, there’s still a lot of work to be done for society to realize its close relationship to literacy, she said. “Literacy and Mental Health” is the theme of the national forum that will be broadcast online on October 5 by Frontier College.
A low level of literacy can mean less access to employment and resources. “All of the factors are potentially stressful and will affect people with lower literacy more deeply,” observes Joëlle Marion, program manager at Frontier College for southern Quebec. Mental health issues like anxiety can in turn reduce learning ability, making it all the more difficult to break this vicious cycle, she adds.
Newcomers are particularly vulnerable to this problem. “Especially immigrant women, who have come from refugee camps or countries of war, whose mental health is already destroyed,” says Sahar Asefi. In my neighborhood there are many African mothers who suffer because they have never been to school, they cannot write in their own language. The community coordinator gives the example of the distress of a newcomer when her husband left her during the pandemic. “She was dependent on her husband for everything, she had never taken the bus, she was a very isolated lady at home, she had anxiety attacks, she says. It is important to have a basic level of literacy to function in society. »
A widespread problem
Literacy does not only mean knowing how to read and write; it is also to understand a more sustained language, abstract concepts, or to manage with technology, explains Mme Marion. The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), an initiative of the OECD, surveyed the Quebec population in 2003. According to the findings of the study, approximately one in five adults in the province is likely to find themselves in a situation where they will experience great or very great difficulty in reading and using the written word. One out of three Quebecers is also likely to find themselves in a situation where their ability to read depends on the presence of facilitating conditions or non-complex written environments.
It can affect anyone, including people who have lost abilities over time. “The distribution of people with low literacy is unequal,” continues Ms.me Marion. Rural areas and certain areas of large cities are a little more affected for all sorts of reasons. » Temporary workers, newcomers and First Nations people are particularly vulnerable.
Food for thought
To improve this assessment, the experts are targeting several possible solutions. “There are identity, cultural and linguistic issues,” says Jackie Garcia Navidad, mental health project manager at Carrefour le Moutier, a front-line community organization dedicated to the social integration of people, about the challenges surrounding literacy. . We have to adapt the services. Is the information accessible to everyone? You have to target people who don’t have access to information. »
To reduce barriers to access, services could also be decompartmentalized according to Joëlle Marion, who pleads for the inclusion of well-being in the services offered by community organizations. She also advises anyone to keep stimulating their intellect. “Literacy and literacy is lifelong, you must not lose your curious mind so as not to lose your own achievements!” said Mr.me Marion. We must remember that mental health must be everywhere, including in literacy. By improving the level of literacy, we will affect employability, health, we will help an entire community. »