User:Kjoi2000/Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Article Draft

Evaluation: The article addresses multiple components of the implications of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one of the sections had excessive use of external links that should either be removed or converted into footnote references. Additionally, not every claim was supported with a reference. Some sentences should also be reformatted to achieve a more neutral tone. I plan to edit the "Prevention and management of mental health conditions" section.

Article body

*Bolded text = my contributions

For healthcare workers

See also: Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic § Health workers

• Feeling under pressure is normal during the times of a crisis. Managing one's mental health is as important as managing physical health.
• Follow coping strategies, ensure sufficient rest, eat good food, engage in physical activity, avoid using tobacco, alcohol, or drugs. Use the coping strategies that have previously worked for you under stressful situations.
• If one is experiencing avoidance by the family or the community, stay connected with loved ones, including digital methods.
• Use understandable ways to share messages to people with disabilities.
• Know how to link people affected with COVID-19 with available resources.
• Implement positive thinking
• Engage in personal hobbies
• Avoid negative coping strategies, such as avoidance of crowds and pandemic news coverage

For team leaders in health facilities

• Keep all staff protected from poor mental health. Focus on long-term occupational capacity rather than short term results.
• Ensure good quality communication and accurate updates.
• Ensure that all staff are aware of where and how mental health support can accessed.
• Orient all staff on how to provide psychological first aid to the affected.
• Emergency mental health conditions should be managed in healthcare facilities.
• Ensure availability of essential psychiatric medications at all levels of health care.
• Conduct widespread screening to identify healthcare workers in need of mental health support
• Provide organizational support and facilitate peer support
• Establish organizational interventions that promote mental wellbeing among healthcare workers
• Rotate work schedules to mitigate stress
• Implement interventions tailored to the local needs of the hospital and provide positive, supportive environments for healthcare workers

A combination of individual and organizational-level interventions are most effective in mitigating negative mental health outcomes in healthcare workers. Individual-based interventions include psychoeducation and seeking social support. Institution-based interventions include specialized training, mindfulness workshops, and responsivity to staff feedback. Lack of equipment, skills, and knowledge of resources needed to support mental wellbeing inhibit the success of organizational-level interventions.

Impact on students

A infographic students can use to stay connected to better their mental health

The COVID-19 pandemic has had considerable impact on students not only through direct effects of the pandemic, but also through the implementation of stay-at-home orders. Physical harm such as overdose, suicide and substance abuse reached an all-time high. Academic stress, dissatisfaction with the quality of teaching and fear of being infected were associated with higher scores of depression in students. Higher scores of depression were also associated with higher levels of frustration and boredom, inadequate supplies of resources, inadequate information from public health authorities, insufficient financial resources, and perceived stigma. Being in a steady relationship and living together with others were associated with lower depressive scores. Research demonstrated that the psychological stress following strict social confinement was moderated by levels of the pre-pandemic stress hormone cortisol and individual abilities of resilient coping. The stay-at-home orders worsened self-reports of perceived stress but also led to an increase in cognitive abilities such as perspective taking and working memory. However, research has shown that greater emotion regulation ability (measured pre-pandemic) was associated with lower acute stress (measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised) in response to the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US during shelter-in-place orders (local lockdowns).

The Higher Education Policy Institute conducted a report which discovered that around 63% of students claimed that their mental health had been worsened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, 38% of students demonstrated satisfaction with the accessibility of mental health services. Despite this, the director for policy and advocacy at the institute has explained that it is still unclear as to how and when normality will resume for students regarding their education and living situation.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students' mental health has been impacted significantly due isolation from others and not having access to on-campus mental health services. The specific level of impact on students varies by demographic backgrounds; however, students from low-income households and students of color have experienced greater adverse mental health outcomes. Students from these demographics also suffer academically from the pandemic due to not having access to many of the vital resources used in virtual learning environments. Such a disadvantage correlates with a decrease in academic performance and achievement, thus harming their learning and growth. The effects on students' mental health from the pandemic will continue past the end of the pandemic. Due to the connection between academic achievement and students' mental health, students who struggle with mental health during the pandemic will also struggle academically.

This impact on students' education will not disappear when the pandemic is over but will require a significant amount of time to catch all students up to the same place. This creates greater academic disparities between certain groups of students and others. Students who come from high-income households and those in certain school districts will most likely have continued access to mental health and academic resources even during the pandemic while those who are low-income will most likely not have access to the same resources.

These issues and impacts are not only evident in K-12 students but also in higher education students. Due to the pandemic, many students who had planned to enroll in college in the fall of 2020 were unable to do so due to various circumstances and issues related to the pandemic. These students, along with those who did attend, will still have to deal with the impacts on their mental health and education during the pandemic. Those who did attend, whether virtually or in-person, might still not have access to the mental health resources they previously might have had with in-person instruction. Coupled with the significant stress that comes with the transition to college, this can have a drastic impact on their academic performance and learning. Students can still feel isolated even in a virtual learning environment because there may be a lack of connection between students, their instructors, and their peers due to a lack of direct communication. This continued feeling of isolation can decrease a student's overall mental health and well-being and lead to worse academic performance. Students in higher education also have many other stressors involved such as difficult classwork, living expenses, and the higher education environment. These stressors have continued to exacerbate students' mental health in the midst of the pandemic. Students who come from low-income households may experience the effects of such stressors to a higher degree due to their socioeconomic status.

Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on students educationally and mentally. The students that have been most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have been those who come from low-income families and students of color. The effects of the pandemic on students' mental health and educational development will still be present even after the pandemic has ended.

Peer Review Response Summary

In general, my contributions focused on a particular section within the article, not the entire article. The section I chose to edit was the "World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control guidelines". This is a tricky section because the heading clearly indicates that the information is from the WHO, but I added new information from sources other than the WHO. I kept the original format of the section, which was bulleted points. Some of the feedback I received was vague, and I was not able to find what specifically the reviewer was referring to. Additionally, some of the feedback was irrelevant because the reviewer did not understand the format of my contributions and did not provide constructive criticism for my contributions. They evaluated the entire section that was included in my sandbox draft instead of looking at my specific contributions (which were bolded; they did not realize this). One reviewer provided useful feedback, such as rephrasing some sentences to be more neutral and changing the format of a few sentences. I will not change the overall format of the article because it is already formatted in a specific way. However, I will look through the entire article to edit any grammatical errors and improve its neutral tone.

Notes

• Chew et al.
  • Individual coping strategies: 1) Seeking social support, 2) positive thinking, 3) problem solving, 4) institutional measures
  • Stress/anxiety triggers: 1) Lack of information about disease, 2) risk perception, 3) sense of own vulnerability, 4) evolving adjustments to work
  • Individual coping strategies and institutional support work to mitigate repercussions of disease outbreak
  • Avoidance strategies (ex: alcohol use, avoidance of crowds/colleagues, avoidance of pandemic news) predictive of negative outcomes
  • Institutional measures: 1) Training, 2) PPE provision, 3) strict enforcement of infection control measures, 4) tangible and psychological support from supervisors
  • Individual-based approaches to intervention: 1) Psychoeducation, 2) adequate sleep/rest, 3) maintenance of social relationships, 4) variety of personal interests/activities, 5) listing priorities, 6) finding purpose and perspective
  • Institution-based approaches to intervention: 1) Clear communication of changes, 2) maintaining access to resources for psychological support, 3) empowerment of self-help groups, 4) early identification of "at-risk" individuals, 5) responsivity in the review of staff feedback, 6) recognition of ongoing staff efforts
• Stujifzand et al.
  • Widespread screening should be used to identify HCPs in need of support
  • Widespread educational campaigns to alert HCPs to the possibility of experiencing mental health problems
  • Three-phased intervention: 1) Psychological first aid workshop, 2) psychoeducation workshop, 3) CBT group program
  • Managers should provide organizational support and foster peer support
  • Provide option for HCPs to volunteer to work with infected patients instead of deployment
  • Managers should regularly provide updated information about pandemic
  • Provide adequate specialized training
• Zaçe et al.
  • Organizational-level interventions (ex: leadership, teamwork, manpower allocation promotion) - Safer and healthier environments that promote mental wellbeing among HCWs
  • Changing work schedules can reduce stress
  • Sufficient PPE provisions reduced levels of anxiety and depression, improved sleep quality
  • Increased knowledge about disease helped HCWs feel safer
  • Main psycho-emotional education interventions: resilience workshops, group problem solving, cognitive behavioral training, mindfulness training
  • Mindfulness-based interventions have potential to reduce stress among HCWs
  • Logistical support from hospital, peer support, colleague encouragement promote sense of safety
  • Factors to inhibit intervention implication: 1) Lack of awareness of tools needed to support mental wellbeing, 2) lack of equipment, staff time, skills needed for intervention
  • Factors to facilitate intervention implication: 1) Interventions adopted for local needs, 2) effective communication, 3) positive, safe, supportive learning environments for frontline workers

References

Chew, Q.H., Wei, K.C., Vasoo, S., & Sim, K. (2020). Psychological and coping responses of health care workers toward emerging infectious disease outbreaks: A rapid review and practical implications for the COVID-19 pandemic. The Journal of Clinical Psychology, 81(6), 1555–2101. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.20r13450

Stujifzand, S., Deforges, C., Sandoz, V., Sajin, C., Jaques, C., Elmers, J., & Horsch, A. (2020). Psychological impact of an epidemic/pandemic on the mental health of healthcare professionals: A rapid review. BMC Public Health, 20(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09322-z

Zaçe, D., Hoxhaj, I., Orfino, A., Viteritti, A.M., Janiri, L., & Di Pietro, M.L. (2021). Interventions to address mental health issues in healthcare workers during infectious disease outbreaks: A systematic review. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 136, 319–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.02.019

So far you have made excellent edits. I would encourage you to consider how your edits would fit into those that currently exist. What I mean by this is, perhaps you should integrate and mix your recommendations higher within the article and you may even find that your bullet expresses similar ideas to an existing bullet that you can delete. I am assuming the notes section was not for review, so I briefly skimmed over that section but am not commenting here. I look forward to seeing additional edits on this article! (Liz)