Losing psychiatric or psychological follow-up during the first COVID-19 confinement in Portugal: outcomes in mental health
Introduction The COVID-19 outbreak imposed several periods of lockdown to stop the pandemic, with a determinant impact on access to mental health services. In Portugal, the first State of Emergency was declared on the 18th of March 2020, with the obligation of mandatory confinement and circulation...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2023-03-01
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| Series: | European Psychiatry |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933823012397/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797616996953620480 |
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| author | M. Gomes P. Silva Moreira S. Ferreira B. Couto M. Machado-Sousa C. Raposo-Lima N. Sousa M. Picó-Pérez P. Morgado |
| author_facet | M. Gomes P. Silva Moreira S. Ferreira B. Couto M. Machado-Sousa C. Raposo-Lima N. Sousa M. Picó-Pérez P. Morgado |
| author_sort | M. Gomes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Introduction
The COVID-19 outbreak imposed several periods of lockdown to stop the pandemic, with a determinant impact on access to mental health services. In Portugal, the first State of Emergency was declared on the 18th of March 2020, with the obligation of mandatory confinement and circulation restriction. Restrictive measures were alleviated on the 2nd of May 2020.
Objectives
We aimed to investigate the impact of the first confinement on the maintenance or loss of psychiatric and psychological follow-up. Also, we aimed to explore the outcomes in the mental health of losing psychiatric or psychological consultations.
Methods
We conducted an online survey among the Portuguese population to evaluate demographic, clinical and mental health variables (STAI, DASS-21, PHQ, OCI-R, Quality of Life [QoL] and PSS). Individuals were invited to answer the survey at two timepoints: third week of March 2020 and third week of May 2020. Concerning the first timepoint, we used independent t-tests to compare the mental health variables in the individuals who loss and who did not lose consultations. Then, we evaluated the impact of losing consultations across time in those individuals who continued responding in the second timepoint, through a Linear Fixed Model. All the analyses were performed using JASP software.
Results
From the total sample (n=2040), 334 individuals (84.4% female gender) had psychiatric and/or psychological consultations previously to the confinement. In March 2020, the individuals who maintained the consultations (35.0%) showed best mental health indicators in the QoL Self Evaluation (p=0.002), QoL Satisfaction (p=0.037), STAI State (p<0.001), DASS-21 (p=0.001), PHQ (p<0.001), OCI-R (p=0.002) and PSS (p<0.001). Among the matched individuals who answered the survey in May 2020 (n=93), we found that the group who maintained follow-up (n=24) did not improve significantly more than the other group (n=69) for any of the mental health variables in study.
Conclusions
The results indicate that stopping psychiatric and psychological follow-up represented worse mental health outcomes at the beginning of the first confinement. However, anxiety feelings improved at the end of the first confinement, which happened independently of psychiatric/ psychological follow-up.
Disclosure of Interest
None Declared |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:49:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4fd1ee857e984ae9a901b520a2b12731 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0924-9338 1778-3585 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:49:14Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-4fd1ee857e984ae9a901b520a2b127312023-11-17T05:07:00ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Psychiatry0924-93381778-35852023-03-0166S593S59310.1192/j.eurpsy.2023.1239Losing psychiatric or psychological follow-up during the first COVID-19 confinement in Portugal: outcomes in mental healthM. Gomes0P. Silva Moreira1S. Ferreira2B. Couto3M. Machado-Sousa4C. Raposo-Lima5N. Sousa6M. Picó-Pérez7P. Morgado8Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/GuimarãesLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães Psychological Neuroscience Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, PortugalLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/GuimarãesLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/GuimarãesLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/GuimarãesLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/GuimarãesLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/GuimarãesLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de la Plana, SpainLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga ICVS/3B’s, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães Introduction The COVID-19 outbreak imposed several periods of lockdown to stop the pandemic, with a determinant impact on access to mental health services. In Portugal, the first State of Emergency was declared on the 18th of March 2020, with the obligation of mandatory confinement and circulation restriction. Restrictive measures were alleviated on the 2nd of May 2020. Objectives We aimed to investigate the impact of the first confinement on the maintenance or loss of psychiatric and psychological follow-up. Also, we aimed to explore the outcomes in the mental health of losing psychiatric or psychological consultations. Methods We conducted an online survey among the Portuguese population to evaluate demographic, clinical and mental health variables (STAI, DASS-21, PHQ, OCI-R, Quality of Life [QoL] and PSS). Individuals were invited to answer the survey at two timepoints: third week of March 2020 and third week of May 2020. Concerning the first timepoint, we used independent t-tests to compare the mental health variables in the individuals who loss and who did not lose consultations. Then, we evaluated the impact of losing consultations across time in those individuals who continued responding in the second timepoint, through a Linear Fixed Model. All the analyses were performed using JASP software. Results From the total sample (n=2040), 334 individuals (84.4% female gender) had psychiatric and/or psychological consultations previously to the confinement. In March 2020, the individuals who maintained the consultations (35.0%) showed best mental health indicators in the QoL Self Evaluation (p=0.002), QoL Satisfaction (p=0.037), STAI State (p<0.001), DASS-21 (p=0.001), PHQ (p<0.001), OCI-R (p=0.002) and PSS (p<0.001). Among the matched individuals who answered the survey in May 2020 (n=93), we found that the group who maintained follow-up (n=24) did not improve significantly more than the other group (n=69) for any of the mental health variables in study. Conclusions The results indicate that stopping psychiatric and psychological follow-up represented worse mental health outcomes at the beginning of the first confinement. However, anxiety feelings improved at the end of the first confinement, which happened independently of psychiatric/ psychological follow-up. Disclosure of Interest None Declaredhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933823012397/type/journal_article |
| spellingShingle | M. Gomes P. Silva Moreira S. Ferreira B. Couto M. Machado-Sousa C. Raposo-Lima N. Sousa M. Picó-Pérez P. Morgado Losing psychiatric or psychological follow-up during the first COVID-19 confinement in Portugal: outcomes in mental health European Psychiatry |
| title | Losing psychiatric or psychological follow-up during the first COVID-19 confinement in Portugal: outcomes in mental health |
| title_full | Losing psychiatric or psychological follow-up during the first COVID-19 confinement in Portugal: outcomes in mental health |
| title_fullStr | Losing psychiatric or psychological follow-up during the first COVID-19 confinement in Portugal: outcomes in mental health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Losing psychiatric or psychological follow-up during the first COVID-19 confinement in Portugal: outcomes in mental health |
| title_short | Losing psychiatric or psychological follow-up during the first COVID-19 confinement in Portugal: outcomes in mental health |
| title_sort | losing psychiatric or psychological follow up during the first covid 19 confinement in portugal outcomes in mental health |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933823012397/type/journal_article |
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