Psychological support in general population during the COVID-19 lockdown in France: Needs and access

Abstract

Introduction With France one of the European countries most strongly affected by COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, French authorities imposed a nationwide lockdown for 8 weeks (March 17–May 10). This study explored the perception of the adult population about the need for—and access to—psychological support from health care professionals (HCP) in response to concerns about the psychological needs during lockdown. Material and method This online cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of the adult general population of mainland France (N = 2,003) took place during the last four days of the French lockdown (May 7–10, 2020). Results One in eight respondents (12.2%) perceived a need for psychological support from an HCP during the lockdown; most had symptoms of depression and/or anxiety of at least moderate intensity. Only a third (29.8%, 3.6% of the entire sample) actually obtained this support. Factors associated with this perceived need included: age under 35, economic difficulties due to lockdown, pre-lockdown use of psychological support, infection with COVID-19, serious worries about becoming infected, and heavy media use to obtain information about the disease. Among those who perceived a need for psychological support, the elderly were the most likely not to consult an HCP. People aged 35–64, those with high income, and those seriously worried about developing COVID-19 were the most likely to forgo seeking access to care because of their fear of infection by the coronavirus-2019. Conclusion The perceived need for psychological support from an HCP and access to it appeared to be strongly associated with COVID-19 exposure factor. More research about this association is needed to improve the health authorities’ understanding of the population’s psychological needs in this situation and to enhance HCPs’ abilities to meet them. In particular, further research of its specific impact on youth is necessary.

Access to Mental Health Care during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Results from the COMET Multicentric Study

“…In our sample, 91.2% of participants were at-risk for developing a mental health problem [ 60 ], but only 7.7% consulted a psychologist or a psychiatrist. This finding is in line with a cross-sectional study conducted in France, where only 3.6% of subjects in need for psychological help consulted mental health professionals during the lockdown [ 67 ]. These data may to some extent mirror results from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) survey, where 60% of participating countries reported disruptions in mental health services for vulnerable populations, whilst 67% conveyed psychotherapy and counselling services disruption [ 68 ].…”

“…Another interesting finding is that unemployment—considered as one of the “proxy” measures of the immediate social consequence of the pandemic—may influence access to mental health services, which is consistent with the finding that economic factors are the main determinants of perceived stress requiring mental health support [ 67 , 89 ]. The pandemic caused an unprecedented socio-economic crisis worldwide, with a shortage of financial resources and increase in unemployment rates.…”

Social Climate and Psychological Response in the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Greek Academic Community

“…The finding that older respondents reported higher levels than younger respondents to the Population's response to governmental measures, whereas had lower levels of Pandemic fear, may relate to greater responsiveness to mass media. This is consistent with the findings of other studies in Italy [41], China [42], and France [43,44] suggesting that psychological disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic were more frequent among young adults due to the sudden rupture of their lifestyle since they usually spend more time outside the home and have more of a social life than older people. Besides, for those among them who are students, the impact of the lockdown on their academic life might create insecurity about their future professional life [43,45,46].…”

“…The School's student population consisted of 82.56% female and 17.44% male students. In addition, 75.9% participants were under 25 years old, 8.0% between [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]8.2% between [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]6.1% between 46-55, and 1.7% were over 56 years old. The data were collected from May to July 2020.…”

Diversity and Training Delivery Trends in Psychological First Aid: Implications for Educators and Researchers

“…Mental health support or PFA delivery via digital platform has been developed or modified rapidly since COVID-19. These virtual approaches to support health care workers were presented globally, including China (Cheng et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2020), France (Alleaume et al, 2021), Malaysia (Sulaiman et al, 2020), U.K. (Blake et al, 2020), etc. For example, the simulation-based PFA training combined with the PLS mobile app improved the relief workers' performance in applying PFA in disaster situations (Kang & Choi, 2021).…”