Editorial Note

Price-Robertson, Rhys

doi:10.59158/001c.71232

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Online interventions, including psychotherapy and psychological support, have been privileged and are especially useful to reach individuals in prophylactic isolation or mandatory quarantine (Erekson, Bailey, Cattani, Fox & Goates-Jones, 2020;Zhou et al, 2020). The potential of online solutions in reducing the consequences of COVID-19 has already been documented (Zhou et al, 2020), and meta-analyses have shown no significant differences between in-person and online therapy outcomes (Barak, Hen, Boniel-Nissim & Shapira, 2008;Berger, 2017;Price-Robertson, Bloch-Atefi, Snell, Day & O'Neill, 2020).…”

Section: /14mentioning

confidence: 99%

Caring for a University Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Development of an Online Psychological Support Service (UCare)

Caetano¹,

Martins²,

Melo³

et al. 2021

Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present paper aims to share a university medical services’ experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a reaction to the predictable negative psychosocial impact on the community brought by home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Coimbra (Portugal) implemented an emotional support line (UCare). A team of clinical psychologists provided online intervention through videocalls, audio, or text. From March to July 2020, 56 people, mostly students, utilised UCare, through 90 appointments. Users reported difficulties regarding academic issues, time management, anxiety, isolation, sleep disorders, fear of infection, and exacerbation of previous psychopathology. Interventions included emotional debriefing, time management strategies, emotional regulation, and sleep quality improvement techniques. Psychotherapeutic tools (e.g., flyers, audio tutorials) were made available after appointments. Over 30% of users were referred to clinical psychology services. In an evaluation of UCare user satisfaction, all respondents rated the interventions between “useful” or “very useful” and reported high satisfaction levels. UCare targeted vulnerable groups (international and post-graduate students) and had an important role in identifying specific mental health problems. Future directions are discussed.

show abstract