Batterham, PhilipCalear, AlisonCarragher, NatachaSunderland, Matthew2021-09-070165-1781http://hdl.handle.net/1885/247390While there is evidence that mental health surveys do not typically increase distress, limited research has examined distress in online surveys. The study investigated whether completion of a 60-min online community-based mental health survey (n = 3620) was associated with reliable increases in psychological distress. 2.5% of respondents had a reliable increase in distress, compared to 5.0% with a reliable decrease, and decreased distress overall across the sample (Cohen's d = −0.22, p < 0.001). Initial depression/anxiety symptoms were associated with increased distress, but suicidality was not. Online mental health surveys are associated with low prevalence of increased distress.PJB, ALC and MS are supported by NHMRC Fellowships 1083311, 1122544 and 1053237 respectively, and the study was funded by NHMRC Project Grant 1043952application/pdfen-AU© 2017 Elsevier B.V.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/201710.1016/j.psychres.2017.08.0482020-11-23CC BY-NC-ND