Narrative review of the COVID-19, healthcare and healthcarers thematic series

Abstract

Summary This review covers the thematic series of 22 papers selected from among manuscripts published by BJPsych Open concerning coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and healthcare. We report nine papers that cover concepts and epidemiology relating to the public and patients. We review 11 papers about the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare services and their staff in 15 countries. Two papers consider the psychosocial impact on staff working in mental health services in the UK. Most papers report cross-sectional analyses of data collected from convenience samples by self-reported surveys conducted at single times. They have limitations of generalisability, do not enable conclusions about diagnosis or causality, and many are likely to have attendant bias and noise. BJPsych Open published these papers to meet requirements for early indications of the mental health impact of COVID-19 on the public and on healthcare staff. They claim high prevalence of symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. We contrast these findings with selected reports of studies with different methodologies published elsewhere. We emphasise the need for longitudinal clinical studies with refined sampling and methodological rigour. We identify several longitudinal research programmes; two in this series. We advocate tuning advice offered about caring for the public and healthcare staff to the realities of their circumstances and their perceptions of need in the context of findings from further longitudinal studies. We draw attention to the importance of the social, relationship and environmental circumstances of the public and healthcare staff in order to understand their distress and their risks of developing mental health disorders.

Anxiety and Depression Levels and Coping Strategies among Polish Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This finding indicates that the most difficulties are experienced by young people. Other studies have also reported that a young age is one of the predictors of the appearance of the clinical signs of mental health disorders [ 26 , 28 , 31 ]. The sensitivity of this group is also emphasized by the observation that there was an increased psychiatric hospitalization rate for younger individuals during the pandemic [ 32 , 33 , 34 ].…”

BJPsych Open: a summary of growth and vision for my second innings as editor-in-chief

“…Our published thematic series (and their editorial leads) are: Emerald Series ( ) (Graham Thornicroft) 12 – released 2019 Cognition in Mood Disorders ( ) (Allan Young, Richard Porter, Katie Douglas) 13 – released 2020 COVID-19, Healthcare and Healthcarers ( ) (Richard Williams, Kenneth Kaufman, Esther Murray) 14 – released 2022 Refugee and Asylum Mental Health ( ) (Cornelius Katona, Derrick Silove, Kenneth Kaufman, Pieter Ventevogel) 15 – released 2022. …”

“…COVID-19, Healthcare and Healthcarers ( ) (Richard Williams, Kenneth Kaufman, Esther Murray) 14 – released 2022…”

Mental health responses in countries hosting refugees from Ukraine

“…26 While recognising the high prevalence rates of significant mental illness it is also important not to overmedicalise distress and associated adaptive and transient emotional symptoms and to consider the trajectory of distress over time. 27 Key questions for the assessor include establishing whether there are multiple mental symptoms, whether they are persistent, the extent to which they are disabling and whether they exceed what would be regarded as culturally appropriate. The UNHCR has proposed an umbrella classification of 'emotional disorders' which covers depression, anxiety and PTSD and is characterised by the presence of overwhelming sadness/apathy, highly distressing re-experiencing symptoms and/or exaggerated or uncontrollable anxiety or fear persisting for at least 2 weeks.…”