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The social impact of COVID-19 as perceived by the employees of a UK mental health service.

ABSTRACT: This study explored the perceptions of NHS employees working within a UK mental health trust in relation to the social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Questioning focussed on social isolation and desire to interact with others before and since COVID-19; effects of safety measures including personal protective equipment and social distancing; and perceived influences of the pandemic on service users and social aspects of service delivery. All employees at an English NHS mental health service were invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire (July-September 2020), resulting in 464 completed questionnaires. Response frequencies were summed across the total sample, and the influence of patient contact, age, and vulnerability to COVID-19 were explored using pairwise comparisons. Approximately two thirds of employees felt there had been a fundamental change in how they felt about interacting with others, and many had lost confidence in their ability to relate emotionally to others. Respondents were keen to adhere to safety guidance, but the majority believed that face masks and social distancing could have a detrimental effect on communication and rapport within the workplace. Other concerns included passing on the virus, social isolation of employees and service users, and a reduction in community services. COVID-19 safety measures may impact morale, communication, empathy, and the provision of client-centred care. More generally, the pandemic has changed the attitudes of mental health workers towards social interaction, with younger employees reporting more mental health difficulties that may be linked to concerns about longer term social change.

SUBMITTER: Eddy CM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8242788 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed a significant influence on public mental health. Current efforts focus on alleviating the impacts of the disease on public health and the economy, with the psychological effects due to COVID-19 relatively ignored. In this research, we are interested in exploring the quantitative characterization of the pandemic impact on public mental health by studying an online survey dataset of the United States.MethodsThe analyses are conducted based on a large scale of online mental health-related survey study in the United States, conducted over 12 consecutive weeks from April 23, 2020 to July 21, 2020. We are interested in examining the risk factors that have a significant impact on mental health as well as in their estimated effects over time. We employ the multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE) method to deal with missing values and take logistic regression with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) method to identify risk factors for mental health.ResultsOur analysis shows that risk predictors for an individual to experience mental health issues include the pandemic situation of the State where the individual resides, age, gender, race, marital status, health conditions, the number of household members, employment status, the level of confidence of the future food affordability, availability of health insurance, mortgage status, and the information of kids enrolling in school. The effects of most of the predictors seem to change over time though the degree varies for different risk factors. The effects of risk factors, such as States and gender show noticeable change over time, whereas the factor age exhibits seemingly unchanged effects over time.ConclusionsThe analysis results unveil evidence-based findings to identify the groups who are psychologically vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study provides helpful evidence for assisting healthcare providers and policymakers to take steps for mitigating the pandemic effects on public mental health, especially in boosting public health care, improving public confidence in future food conditions, and creating more job opportunities.Trial registrationThis article does not report the results of a health care intervention on human participants.

Project description:Companion animals may be a positive presence for their owners during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the welfare of a companion animal is strongly influenced by the behaviour of their owners, as well as their physical and social environment. We aimed to investigate the reported changes in companion animal welfare and behaviour and to examine the association between these changes and companion animal owners' mental health. A cross-sectional online survey of UK residents over 18 years of age was conducted between April and June 2020 (n = 5926). The questionnaire included validated, bespoke items measuring outcomes related to mental health, human-animal bonds and reported changes in animal welfare and behaviour. The final item of the survey invited open-ended free-text responses, allowing participants to describe experiences associated with human-animal relationships during the first UK lockdown phase. Animal owners made up 89.8% of the sample (n = 5323), of whom 67.3% reported changes in their animal's welfare and behaviour during the first lockdown phase (n = 3583). These reported changes were reduced to a positive (0-7) and negative (0-5) welfare scale, following principal component analysis (PCA) of 17 items. Participants reported more positive changes for cats, whereas more negative changes were reported for dogs. Thematic analysis identified three main themes relating to the positive and negative impact on companion animals of the COVID-19 pandemic. Generalised linear models indicated that companion animal owners with poorer mental health scores pre-lockdown reported fewer negative changes in animal welfare and behaviour. However, companion animal owners with poorer mental health scores since lockdown reported more changes, both positive and negative, in animal welfare and behaviour. Our findings extend previous insights into perceived welfare and behaviour changes on a very limited range of species to a wider range of companion animals. Owner mental health status has a clear, albeit small, effect on companion animal welfare and behaviour.

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The social impact of COVID-19 as perceived by the employees of a UK mental health service.

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