scholarly journals Mental health support for healthcare workers after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Five years on

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Shigemura ◽  
Nahoko Harada ◽  
Aihide Yoshino
Author(s):  
Muchtar ◽  
Ray Wagiu Basrowi

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers have physical and psychosocial pressure in carrying out their work. The requirement for healthcare workers in dealing with the pandemic is so high, the identification process for the resilience of healthcare workers is not going well. The purpose of this article is to review about how to optimize the resilience of healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 outbreak working conditions. Methods: This literature review is conducted in October 2021. Research related to the resilience of healthcare workers during COVID-19 Pandemic by using valid keywords, including resilience, healthcare workers, COVID-19 through ProQuest, ScienceDirect and SpingerLink. Results: A total of 10 articles were selected for the literature review. The process of self-reflection is one of the important things for healthcare workers. Optimizing relisience of healthcare workers by carrying out an efficient division of tasks to reduce workloads, give more attention to their needs, provide training and knowledge about digital applications to increase capacity in carrying out their work, provide mental health support for healthcare workers and creating a safe and comfortable work environment for them. Conclusions: Maintaining health during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important thing that needs to be done by healthcare workers. Stress management is an important factor in dealing with a pandemic. Create an assessment of the resilience of healthcare workers by detecting gaps, determining priorities, developing plans to prevent psychosocial hazards at all levels both individual and organizational levels.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Rolling ◽  
Amaury C. Mengin ◽  
Cédric Palacio ◽  
Dominique Mastelli ◽  
Morgane Fath ◽  
...  

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exposed health professionals to high stress levels inducing significant psychological impact. Our region, Grand Est, was the most impacted French region during the first COVID-19 wave. In this context, we created CoviPsyHUS, local mental health prevention and care system dedicated explicitly to healthcare workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in one of this region's tertiary hospitals. We deployed CoviPsyHUS gradually in 1 month. To date, CoviPsyHUS comprises 60 mental health professionals dedicated to 4 complementary components: (i) a mental health support hotline (170 calls), (ii) relaxation rooms (used by 2,120 healthcare workers with 110 therapeutic workshops offered), (iii) mobile teams (1,200 contacts with healthcare staff), and (iv) a section dedicated to patients and their families. Among the critical points to integrate mental health care system during a crisis, we identified: (i) massive dissemination of mental health support information with multimodal communication, (ii) clear identification of the mental health support system, (iii) proactive mobile teams to identify healthcare professionals in difficulty, (iv) concrete measures to relieve the healthcare professionals under pressure (e.g., the relay in communication with families), (v) support for primary needs (body care (physiotherapy), advice and first-line therapy for sleep disorders), and (vi) psychoeducation and emotion management techniques. The different components of CoviPsyHUS are vital elements in meeting the needs of caregivers in situations of continuous stress. The organization of 4 targeted, modular, and rapidly deployable components makes CoviPsyHUS an innovative, reactive, and replicable mental health prevention and care system that could serve as a universal support model for other COVID-19 affected teams or other exceptional health crises in the future.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew James Coleshill ◽  
Peter Baldwin ◽  
Melissa Black ◽  
Jill Newby ◽  
Tanya Shrestha ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has placed healthcare workers (HCWs) under severe stress, compounded by barriers to seeking mental health support among HCWs. The Essential Network (TEN) is a blend of digital and person-to-person (blended care) mental health support services for HCWs, funded by the Australian Federal Department of Health as part of their national COVID-19 response strategy. New blended services need to demonstrate improvements in mental health symptoms and test acceptability in their target audience, as well as review implementation strategies to improve engagement. OBJECTIVE The primary objective of this implementation trial is to design and test an implementation strategy to improve uptake of TEN. The secondary objectives are examining the acceptability of TEN among HCWs, changes in mental health outcomes associated with use of TEN, as well as reductions in mental health stigma among HCWs following use of TEN. METHODS The implementation trial contains three components: a consultation study with up to 39 stakeholders or researchers with implementation experience to design an implementation strategy; a longitudinal observational study of at least 105 healthcare workers to examine the acceptability of TEN and the effectiveness of TEN at one and six months in improving mental health (as assessed by Distress Questionnaire (DQ-5), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OBI-16), and Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS)) and reducing mental health stigma (Endorsed and Anticipated Stigma Inventory (EASI)); and an implementation study where TEN service uptake analytics will be examined for three months before and after the introduction of the implementation strategy. RESULTS The implementation strategy, designed with input from the consultation and observational studies, is expected to lead to an increased number of unique visits to the TEN Website in the three months following the introduction of the implementation strategy. The observational study is expected to observe high service acceptability. Moderate improvements to general mental health (DQ-5, WSAS) and a reduction in workplace- and treatment-related mental health stigma (EASI) between the baseline and 1-month timepoints. CONCLUSIONS TEN is a first-of-kind blended mental health service available to Australian HCWs. The results of this project have the potential to inform the implementation and development of blended care mental health services, as well as how such services can be effectively implemented during crisis. CLINICALTRIAL N/A


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanner Thornsberry ◽  
Jill Nault Connors ◽  
Julie Welch ◽  
Julie Hayden ◽  
Jennifer Hartwell ◽  
...  

Background:  The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a high psychological burden on frontline healthcare workers. Often quarantined away from their families and with little downtime to process their experiences, those on the frontlines of the pandemic are experiencing pronounced levels of distress and significantly elevated rates of burnout. Although many wellness and psychological resources are available to providers, there is low uptake and little is known about their effectiveness. In this study, we assess the impact of group-based peer support sessions on symptoms of acute distress, anxiety and depression, and provider burn out.    Methods:  An established peer support model is adapted for use with groups of frontline healthcare workers that will participate in 6 to 8 weekly group sessions using videoconferences. The study approach is a phased feasibility to research design. During the feasibility phase, we will initially test the intervention in 3 groups of 8 providers using a quasi-experimental, pre- post analysis of change. If preliminary results are positive, we will scale the intervention and progress to a more rigorous study design using a differences-in-differences approach to assess change over time between exposure and non-exposure groups. Outcomes will be measured at baseline, intervention completion, and 3- and 6- month follow ups. During the feasibility phase we will assess intervention fidelity and conduct qualitative analysis to assess the effects of the pandemic on work, family and social life.     Results:  This is a work in progress. At present we have recruited 28 emergency medicine physicians and residents with a target start date of August 1, 2020.    Potential Impact:  We anticipate the results of this study will provide evidence in support of a recent call for “the use of non-clinical mental health support, such as social or peer support” from the American College of Emergency Physicians in conjunction with 42 leading professional organizations in medicine. In addition, results may lead to advocacy for improved policies that mitigate against “fear of resultant loss of licensure, loss of income, or other career setbacks” for seeking mental health support. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 914-921
Author(s):  
Junko Okuyama ◽  
Shunichi Funakoshi ◽  
Shuji Seto ◽  
Yu Fukuda ◽  
Kiyoshi Ito ◽  
...  

Introduction: Adolescents affected by disasters need mental health support because they tend to be at risk of developing psychiatric disorders and stress as grown-ups. However, it is difficult to develop and validate a support system for adolescents affected by disasters because it is unknown when and where disasters occur, and there is inadequate data related to this in Japan. Methods: To address these issues, we present a mental health support system for high school students affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. We hypothesized that mental health support could be provided by classroom teachers and school nurses, who are familiar with high school students. We investigated the psychological state of the affected high school students for three years after the earthquake, and the students in psychological crises received interventions from their class teachers and school nurses. Results: The intervention resulted in improvements in depression and post-traumatic stress reaction (PTSR). Conclusion: These results suggest that our high school-based intervention is a feasible solution for mental health support for adolescents affected by the disaster.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. e041371
Author(s):  
Alyssa Howren ◽  
J Antonio Aviña-Zubieta ◽  
Deborah Da Costa ◽  
Joseph H Puyat ◽  
Hui Xie ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between having arthritis and the perceived need for mental healthcare and use of mental health support among individuals with mental disorders.DesignA cross-sectional analysis using data from Canadian Community Health Survey—Mental Health (2012).SettingThe survey was administered across Canada’s 10 provinces using multistage cluster sampling.ParticipantsThe study sample consisted of individuals reporting depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder.Study variables and analysisThe explanatory variable was self-reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis, and outcomes were perceived need for mental healthcare and use of mental health support. We computed overall and gender-stratified multivariable binomial logistic regression models adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, income and geographical region.ResultsAmong 1774 individuals with a mental disorder in the study sample, 436 (20.4%) reported having arthritis. Arthritis was associated with increased odds of having a perceived need for mental healthcare (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.71, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.77). In the gender-stratified models, this association was increased among men (aOR 2.69, 95% CI 1.32 to 5.49) but not women (aOR 1.48, 95% CI 0.78 to 2.82). Evaluation of the association between arthritis and use of mental health support resulted in an aOR of 1.50 (95% CI 0.89 to 2.51). Individuals with arthritis tended to use medications and professional services as opposed to non-professional support.ConclusionComorbid arthritis among individuals with a mental disorder was associated with an increased perceived need for mental healthcare, especially in men, underscoring the importance of understanding the role of masculinity in health seeking. Assessing the mental health of patients with arthritis continues to be essential for clinical care.


Author(s):  
Evangeline Tabor ◽  
Praveetha Patalay ◽  
David Bann

AbstractDespite increasing policy focus on mental health provision for higher education students, it is unclear whether they have worse mental health outcomes than their non-student peers. In a nationally-representative UK study spanning 2010–2019 (N = 11,519), 17–24 year olds who attended higher education had lower average psychological distress (GHQ score difference =  − 0.37, 95% CI − 0.60, − 0.08) and lower odds of case-level distress than those who did not (OR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.81, 1.02). Increases in distress between 2010 and 2019 were similar in both groups. Accessible mental health support outside higher education settings is necessary to prevent further widening of socioeconomic inequalities in mental health.


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