Use of Telehealth Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences of Mental Health Providers Serving Rural Youth and Elderly in Pennsylvania

Social distancing measures following the outbreak of COVID-19 have led to a rapid shift to virtual and telephone care. Social workers and mental health providers in VA home-based primary care (HBPC) teams face challenges providing psychosocial support to their homebound, medically complex, socially isolated patient population who are high risk for poor health outcomes related to COVID-19. We developed and disseminated an 8-week telephone or virtual group intervention for front-line HBPC social workers and mental health providers to use with socially isolated, medically complex older adults. The intervention draws on skills from evidence-based psychotherapies for older adults including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and Problem-Solving Therapy. The manual was disseminated to VA HBPC clinicians and geriatrics providers across the United States in March 2020 for expeditious implementation. Eighteen HBPC teams and three VA Primary Care teams reported immediate delivery of a local virtual or telephone group using the manual. In this paper we describe the manual’s development and clinical recommendations for its application across geriatric care settings. Future evaluation will identify ways to meet longer-term social isolation and evolving mental health needs for this patient population as the pandemic continues.

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Information for Mental Health Providers Working with Children who have Chronic Illnesses

10.2174/97816080589071140101 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Chronic Illnesses ◽

Mental Health Providers ◽

Health Providers

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Blank Screens (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.20481 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Adrienne Lapidos

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Clinical Psychologist ◽

Mental Health Providers ◽

Health Providers ◽

Theoretical Orientations ◽

Self Disclosure

UNSTRUCTURED With the advent of COVID-19, psychiatry video visits have become commonplace practically overnight. Patients and mental health providers are now presented with new opportunities and risks with respect to self-disclosure. In this Viewpoint, a clinical psychologist grapples with the new self-disclosure landscape as she and a patient both connect to therapy from their homes. The piece explores how various theoretical orientations in psychotherapy have addressed self-disclosure historically, and how video visit technologies have changed the boundaries of what can be shared.

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Burnout and depression among psychiatry residents during COVID-19 pandemic

Human Resources for Health ◽

10.1186/s12960-021-00584-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Abdulmajeed A. Alkhamees ◽

Hatem Assiri ◽

Hatim Yousef Alharbi ◽

Abdullah Nasser ◽

Mohammad A. Alkhamees

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Saudi Arabia ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Mental Health Treatment ◽

Maslach Burnout Inventory ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Psychiatry Residents ◽

Mental Health Providers ◽

Health Providers ◽

Frontline Workers

AbstractVery few studies have been concerned with assessing the prevalence of burnout and depressive symptoms, especially during an infectious outbreak on non-frontline health care workers, such as a psychiatrist. In such instances, the role of psychiatrists and other mental health providers as a source of psychological support to the public and frontline workers is indispensable and valuable. This study aims to assess the prevalence of burnout and depressive symptoms, and their correlation, during the COVID-19 pandemic among psychiatry residents in Saudi Arabia. A total of 121 out of 150 psychiatry residents in Saudi Arabia completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Patient’s Health Questionnaire for the assessment of burnout and depressive symptoms. Burnout symptoms were found in 27.3%, and another 27.3% reported having depression symptoms. In addition, 16.5% reported having both burnout and depressive symptoms, with a significant relationship between them. Participants in the first 2 years of training and having a history of receiving mental health treatment in the past 2 years were at higher risk. The need is urgent to increase investment in mental health services and to construct a plan to reduce this risk of burnout and depression among psychiatrists by developing preventative strategies to prevent burnout and promote wellness is more important than ever.

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