COVID-19 and Physical Distancing Measures: Experience of Psychiatric Professionals in Europe

Abstract

A The COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on the organization of psychiatric care. The present study examines how care professionals experienced this period and faced these new constraints weighing on their professional practices. Based on a qualitative research methodology, 13 group interviews with healthcare professionals working in psychiatric wards were conducted in five countries in western Europe. To complement this, 31 individual interviews were carried out in Belgium and France. Public health measures hindered certain therapeutic activities, jeopardized communication, and obliged healthcare professionals to modify and adapt their practices. Confronted with a transformation of their usual roles, healthcare professionals feared a deterioration in the quality of care. Impossible to continue in-person care practices, they resorted to online videoconferencing which went against their idea of care in which the encounter holds an essential place. The lockdown contradicted efforts to co-build care pathways toward readaptation, social reintegration, and recovery, thus reviving the perception of psychiatric hospitalization based on isolation.

Profile changes in admissions to a psychiatric hospitalisation unit over 15 years (2006–2021), considering the impact of the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2

“…The context of the COVID-19 pandemic required rapid adaptations in the healthcare system and in medical care to establish measures aimed at limiting the risk of spreading the virus ( Bocher et al, 2020 ). In addition, this situation made it difficult to provide care directed towards rehabilitation, which promoted psychiatric hospitalisation largely as a result of the restrictions in place and resulting social isolation ( Kane et al, 2022 ). Therefore, the implementation of more demanding admissions criteria was required to help avoid hospitalisations that were not strictly necessary ( Jagadheesan et al, 2021 ).…”

Neuroticism and Conscientiousness Moderate the Effect of Oral Medication Beliefs on Adherence of People with Mental Illness during the Pandemic

“…After the declaration of the pandemic status in several countries, to reduce viral spread, the continuity of face-to-face follow-up visits in psychiatric facilities has been delayed or interrupted [ 1 , 2 ]. As a consequence of this change in psychiatric settings, reduced access to mental health services has become one of the predictors of poor adherence to oral medications, which in turn has increased the risk of symptom deterioration and relapse [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”