scholarly journals The Intersection of COVID-19 and Mental Health: What's the Matter with Ethics?

Yuridika ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 477
Author(s):  
Siti Hafsyah Idris ◽  
Nor Jannah Nasution Raduan ◽  
Nurul Azreen Hashim ◽  
Nadiah Thanthawi Jauhari ◽  
Roslinda Mohd Subbian
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Mental Health Crisis ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Control Order

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic rapidly sweeps across the world, despite the measure taken to contain the spread of the disease through quarantine, it induces a considerable degree of fear, worry and concern in the population at large. Health care providers, older people and people with underlying health conditions are the most vulnerable to the pandemic. Nations, even countries with advanced medical sciences and resources, have underestimated the perils of the pandemic. Efforts are focused on understanding the epidemiology, clinical features, transmission patterns, and management of COVID-19 disease. One aspect overlooked is the mental health crisis underpinning the effects of self-isolation/ quarantine and the deaths of loved ones—the number of positive cases in Malaysia at an exponential growth rate each day. With strict preventive measures and restrictions by the Malaysian Government in the form of nationwide Movement Control Order (also known as MCO), the citizens are going through a range of psychological and emotional reactions and fear and uncertainty of being one of the infected. Many studies have been conducted to identify the state of mental health of people during this calamity. This raises ethical concerns and legal issues with regards to the rights of individuals enduring mental illness. This paper explores the ethical issues about the research on mental health during Covid-19 pandemics and the regulatory mechanisms which protect the rights of the persons who have the symptoms of mental illness.

scholarly journals Abandonment: Experiences of accessing emergency services during mental health crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Rene Lovelace ◽  
Liam Phelan ◽  
Rosanna Langer ◽  
Moira Ferguson ◽  
Lissa L Gagnon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Emergency Services ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Mental Health Crisis ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Mental Health Challenges

Purpose: Emergency departments (ED’s) often serve as the access point to health services for individuals living with mental health challenges, with mental health crisis (MHC) accounting for 15% of all presentations to ED’s in Canada. Consumers’ experiences of emergency mental health services have widely been reported as negative. This research aims to explore the experiences of individuals accessing the ED for MHC. Method: A supra-analysis was conducted using data from four semi-structured interviews collected from a larger study exploring stigma, discrimination and resilience in people experiencing mental health challenges. Supra-analysis aims to explore an aspect of the data from a different theoretical perspective. Transcripts were selected based on a participant history of voluntarily accessing emergency services for MHC. Data analysis was completed using the process of thematic analysis which involved immersion in the data, the development and refinement of codes leading to themes. Findings: A major theme of abandonment was identified in participant interviews with subthemes of; geographic, socioemotional and therapeutic abandonment. Participants reported that the locations of care, lack of social/emotional engagement and lack of health care providers’ (HCP) knowledge led to negative experiences attending ED’s. Participants also reported a lack of desire to access emergency services in the future. Conclusion: Future research is vital to enhance the delivery of emergency services, to reduce the feelings of abandonment experienced by individuals accessing the ED for MHC. Training and education must be provided to HCP’s staffing ED’s that focuses on providing high quality, appropriate emergency services to this vulnerable population.

Scope and Burdens of Psychological Dysfunction

2018 ◽  
pp. 19-50
Author(s):  
Alan E. Kazdin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Crisis ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Psychological Dysfunction ◽  
Core Features

This chapter addresses several key background topics, including the range and types of psychological dysfunctions, the scope of the problems in terms of incidence and prevalence of cases, and the burdens these place on individuals, families, and society at large. The chapter conveys core features of the mental health crisis and why innovation in developing remedies is so critical. The aim of the chapter is to establish the need for more effective interventions in light of the range of dysfunctions, the high number of people who experience them, and the burdens these dysfunctions cause. The burdens can be evaluated in many ways, including measures of impairment, costs, disability, and lost days. Overall, the costs and lost days of adequate functioning and lost days of life are enormous as a result of mental illness.

Hispanics, Mental Health, and Suicide: Brief Report

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Brenes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Hispanic Americans ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Provider Attitudes ◽  
Health Crisis

A global health crisis exists surrounding suicide. In the United States, suicide rates have increased by nearly 30% in most states since 1999. Although the suicide rate among Hispanic Americans is significantly lower than non-Hispanic Whites, reasons for the lower rate are unclear. Current literature suggests that the lower rate may be due to underreporting, a lack of suicide screening and a number of complex social issues, including the stigma surrounding suicide in Hispanic culture. Health care provider attitudes toward suicidal individuals may also negatively affect mental health outcomes. This brief report focuses on suicide as a public health concern, addresses key issues arising from the phenomenon, and provides a perspective on health care providers’ attitudes toward suicide. Recommendations for future research, as well as implications for clinical practice and policy, are suggested.

scholarly journals Experiences and satisfaction of children, young people and their parents with alternative mental health models to inpatient settings: a systematic review

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1621-1633
Author(s):  
Frane Vusio ◽  
Andrew Thompson ◽  
Max Birchwood ◽  
Latoya Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young People ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Mental Health Crisis ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Alternative Models ◽  
Searching Strategy ◽  
Crisis Services ◽  
Inpatient Settings

Abstract Community-based mental health services for children and young people (CYP) can offer alternatives to inpatient settings and treat CYP in less restrictive environments. However, there has been limited implementation of such alternative models, and their efficacy is still inconclusive. Notably, little is known of the experiences of CYP and their parents with these alternative models and their level of satisfaction with the care provided. Therefore, the main aim of this review was to understand those experiences of the accessibility of alternative models to inpatient care, as well as overall CYP/parental satisfaction. A searching strategy of peer-reviewed articles was conducted from January 1990 to December 2018, with updated searches conducted in June 2019. The initial search resulted in 495 articles, of which 19 were included in this review. A narrative synthesis grouped the studies according to emerging themes: alternative models, tele-psychiatry and interventions applied to crisis, and experiences and satisfaction with crisis provision. The identified articles highlighted increased satisfaction in CYP with alternative models in comparison with care as usual. However, the parental experiential data identified high levels of parental burden and a range of complex emotional reactions associated with engagement with crisis services. Furthermore, we identified a number of interventions, telepsychiatric and mobile solutions that may be effective when applied to urgent and emergency care for CYP experiencing a mental health crisis. Lastly, both parental and CYP experiences highlighted a number of perceived barriers associated with help-seeking from crisis services.

Supporting families managing parental mental illness: Challenges and resources

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 361-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle D Sherman ◽  
Stephanie A Hooker
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Family Medicine ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Family Members ◽  
The United States ◽  
Parental Mental Illness ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Treatment Needs

Over five million children in the United States have a parent living with a serious mental illness. These offspring are at higher risk for developing mental health problems themselves due to a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and psychosocial factors. Life with a parent with psychiatric symptoms can be scary, confusing, overwhelming, and sad; children often blame themselves for their parent’s problems, find their parent’s behavior embarrassing, and struggle to explain the illness to their friends. Unfortunately, these children’s needs and experiences are often ignored by overwhelmed parents, worried family members and relatives, separate mental health systems of care for adults and children that often fail to coordinate care, and even well-intentioned health-care providers. Family medicine teams have an opportunity to detect and support these families in unique ways. We offer four recommendations for family medicine teams to help families managing parental mental illness including assessing functioning, treatment needs, and impacts on each family member; educating all family members about mental illness; instilling hope, noting the range of effective treatments for mental illness; and encouraging the use of supports and referral options. Providers can leverage family members’ strengths, work with community-based resources, and offer continuity to these families, as they struggle with an oftentimes chronic, relapsing disease that has ripple effects throughout the family system.

“Hear me out”: Experiences of mothers suffering from severe mental illness with health care providers – A qualitative perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s899-s899 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Banerjee ◽  
G. Desai ◽  
P.S. Chandra
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Severe Mental Illness ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
Competing Interest

BackgroundContrary to popular myth, majority of mentally ill women are mothers with increasing number of them seeking help. Little is known about their own experiences in this regard and the extent to which their needs are met.ObjectivesTo assess the barriers and facilitators in seeking help from mental health care providers in matters of pregnancy and parenting.MethodsThe study used qualitative design with social constructivist paradigm. A purposive sample of 30 mothers with severe mental illness was obtained. Data was collected through one-to-one in-depth semi-structured interviews. After verbatim transcription, inductive thematic analysis was used to explore transcripts.ResultsMost women considered motherhood “central” to their lives and almost all of them experienced the burden of the “dual role”. Main barriers in seeking help were stigma, treatment side effects, wrong information and time constraints. Whereas self-advocacy, early engagement, education of women and involvement of the family with service providers were the facilitating factors. The prime expectations of the mothers as identified were early and direct communication, patient audience and basic guidance in regards to child health and parenting issues.ConclusionWomen who are mothers and also users of mental health services face special challenges in managing the contradictory aspects of their dual identity. Hearing their voices are essential for service provision and ensuring adequate mental health needs. Early and direct intervention along with understanding and addressing critical areas are necessary for proper care of both the mother and child.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Perinatal Mental Health

2019 ◽  
pp. 209-232
Author(s):  
Lori d’Agincourt-Canning ◽  
Deirdre Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Medication Use ◽  
Perinatal Mental Health ◽  
Relational Autonomy ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Mental Health Crisis ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Medication Decisions

This chapter reviews ethical issues pertaining to the care of women with mental illness during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The incidence of perinatal depression and anxiety and psychotic disorders and their respective treatments are described. Ethics principles and perspectives that guide perinatal mental health care are discussed critically. Relational autonomy is shown to be a key principle to guide treatment decisions for these women. The value of relational autonomy in addressing ethical challenges is illustrated by three cases in reproductive mental health: psychotropic medication decisions during pregnancy; enforced treatment; and disclosure of medication use to fathers. A fourth case addresses social justice considerations of mother–baby units for women experiencing a perinatal mental health crisis. This analysis calls for a notion of self-determination that accounts for how autonomy occurs and is enacted within specific relational, social, cultural, and political contexts.

Simulation training for police and ambulance services to improve mental health practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 303-314
Author(s):  
Tasnim Uddin ◽  
Amina Saadi ◽  
Megan Fisher ◽  
Sean Cross ◽  
Chris Attoe
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Simulation Training ◽  
Procedural Knowledge ◽  
Professional Collaboration ◽  
Mental Health Crisis ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Simulation

Purpose Emergency services face increasing frontline pressure to support those experiencing mental health crises. Calls have been made for police and ambulance staff to receive training on mental health interventions, prevention of risk and inter-professional collaboration. Mental health simulation training, a powerful educational technique that replicates clinical crises for immersive and reflective training, can be used to develop competencies in emergency staff. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of mental health simulation training for police and ambulance staff. Design/methodology/approach In total, 199 participants from the London Metropolitan Police Service and London Ambulance Service attended a one-day simulation training course designed to promote effective and professional responses to mental health crises. Participants took part in one of six simulated scenarios involving mental health crisis before completing structured debriefs with expert facilitators. Participants’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards mental illness were measured quantitatively using pre- and post-course questionnaires while participants’ perceived influence on clinical practice was measured qualitatively using post-course open-text surveys. Findings Statistically significant improvements in self-efficacy and attitudes towards mental illness were found. Thematic analyses of open-text surveys found key themes including improved procedural knowledge, self-efficacy, person-centred care and inter-professional collaboration. Originality/value This study demonstrates that mental health simulation is an effective training technique that improves self-efficacy, attitudes and inter-professional collaboration in police and ambulance staff working with people with mental health needs. This technique has potential to improve community-based responses to mental health crises.

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