Dataset Information

The Application of e-Mental Health in Response to COVID-19: Scoping Review and Bibliometric Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation measures and impacts, such as shelter-in-place orders, social isolation, restrictions on freedoms, unemployment, financial insecurity, and disrupted routines, have led to declines in mental health worldwide and concomitant escalating demands for mental health services. Under the circumstances, electronic mental health (e-mental health) programs and services have rapidly become the "new normal."

Objective

The aim of this study was to assess key characteristics and evidence gaps in the e-mental health literature published in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic via a scoping review and bibliometric analysis.

Methods

We conducted a search of four academic databases (ie, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, and CINAHL) for documents published from December 31, 2019, to March 31, 2021, using keywords for e-mental health and COVID-19. Article information was extracted that was relevant to the review objective, including journal, type of article, keywords, focus, and corresponding author. Information was synthesized by coding these attributes and was then summarized through descriptive statistics and narrative techniques. Article influence was examined from Altmetric and CiteScore data, and a network analysis was conducted on article keywords.

Results

A total of 356 publications were included in the review. Articles on e-mental health quickly thrived early in the pandemic, with most articles being nonempirical, chiefly commentaries or opinions (n=225, 63.2%). Empirical publications emerged later and became more frequent as the pandemic progressed. The United States contributed the most articles (n=160, 44.9%), though a notable number came from middle-income countries (n=59, 16.6%). Articles were spread across 165 journals and had above-average influence (ie, almost half of the articles were in the top 25% of output scores by Altmetric, and the average CiteScore across articles was 4.22). The network analysis of author-supplied keywords identified key topic areas, including specific mental disorders, eHealth modalities, issues and challenges, and populations of interest. These were further explored via full-text analysis. Applications of e-mental health during the pandemic overcame, or were influenced by, system, service, technology, provider, and patient factors.

Conclusions

COVID-19 has accelerated applications of e-mental health. Further research is needed to support the implementation of e-mental health across system and service infrastructures, alongside evidence of the relative effectiveness of e-mental health in comparison to traditional modes of care.

SUBMITTER: Ellis LA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8651237 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on both mental health and working conditions. Workplaces are conducive spaces for implementing strategies and interventions to promote mental health. In addition to this, they are preventing, identifying, and managing mental disorders effectively. Although international agencies have identified some guidelines for the management of mental health in the workplace in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a more precise characterization of both the components of the policies, their implementation, and evidence of the outcome is required to provide useful information for decision-makers.ObjectivesThis study aims to synthesize scientific information regarding national and local policies focusing on preventing or improving, directly or indirectly, mental health problems in the workplace during COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsOur study is a scoping review. The Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases and PubMed search engine were used. Original and reviewed articles published from January 1, 2020 to October 14, 2021 were included in the research. Articles with abstract or full text in English, Spanish, German and Portuguese were also included. Our strategy is based on identifying policies (intervention) which focuses on directly or indirectly preventing or ameliorating mental health problems in the workplace during COVID-19 pandemic (participants).ResultsA total of 6,522 records were identified, and only four studies were included in the scoping review, which were of low quality. That is, we found limited evidence evaluating mental health policies using primary or secondary data (empirical evaluation). Among the policies that have been identified are the increase of mental health resources, the promotion of mental health and self-care support programs, and the reduction of barriers to access to mental health treatment.ConclusionOur research finds that there is limited evidence available to evaluate national and local policies aimed at directly or indirectly preventing or ameliorating mental health problems at work during COVID-19 pandemic. This forces decision-makers to use different criteria to guide the allocation of resources and budgets. Therefore, there is a need for health intelligence teams in health systems to be able to assess the impact of policies as an important input for decision-makers.