Creative Long Covid: A qualitative exploration of the experience of Long Covid through the medium of creative narratives.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare is witnessing a new disease with the emergence of Long Covid; a condition which can result in myriad symptoms, varying in frequency and severity. As new data are emerging to help inform treatment guidelines, the perspectives of those living with Long Covid are essential in informing healthcare practice. The research aimed to collect the narratives of people living with Long Covid to better understand the lived experience of this condition. In attempting to narrate complex or traumatic experiences the arts and humanities can offer alternative ways of expressing embodied narratives, representing rich sources of meaning. Therefore, the research specifically sought to elicit creative expressions from participants with lived experience of Long Covid. METHODS: Data were collected via an online repository where participants could submit their pieces of creative writing. Data were collected between August 2021 and January 2022 and a total of 28 submissions were received from participants. These were mostly written creative narratives. However, a small number were submitted as audio or video files of spoken word poetry or songs. Data collection was stopped once data saturation was achieved. RESULTS: The submissions were subjected to thematic analysis and five themes were generated. These five themes are Identity, social relationships, symptoms, interaction with healthcare systems and time. The results provide an insight into the experience of Long Covid as detailed by the participants' creative narratives. CONCLUSION: The results from this study provide a unique insight into the lived experience of Long Covid. In relation to clinical practice, the results suggest that adjustment reaction and loss of sense of self could be added as common symptoms. PATIENT AND PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Before undertaking the research, Long Covid community groups were contacted to discuss the potential value of this study and it was widely supported. One of the leading Long Covid support groups was also involved in disseminating information regarding the project. As part of ongoing work within this project, members of the team are actively disseminating the results within Long Covid communities and seeking to develop arts-based workshops specifically for people with Long Covid.

Mental health literacy and young people

This book examines creative approaches to mental health literacy. In the wake of COVID-19, and the onslaught of major war breaking out once again in Europe, the mental health of young people is at stake, with increasing numbers struggling with anxiety, depression, and other psychological challenges. It provides an accessible, lively, and creative entry point to mental health literacy and young people at a time of unprecedented challenges to their psychological health, with increased uncertainty about physical survival, rising cases of anxiety, depression, stress, and loneliness, all compounded by hampered social connectedness, losses in educational attainment, and concerns for future employment opportunities. The book introduces the reader unfamiliar with this concept to the ways that the creative arts not only contribute to positive mental health, but may also be the best chance to advance understanding of and responses to mental health challenges. The first part focuses on improving upstream knowledge about and responses to the difficult transitional period young people aged 17-24 face to reduce or counter the development of specific mental health disorders downstream. The second part examines downstream mental health literacy when particular disorders are already part of the lives of young people given that 50% of mental disorders begin by age 14 with 75% beginning by age 26. The book concludes with a short review of creative and coproductive strategies for advancing mental health literacy with and for young people upstream and downstream. It should be of interest to young people in secondary and higher education, parents, teachers, caregivers, coaches, clergy, and more. It will also be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates, academic researchers, clinicians, educators, charitable bodies and the wider public interested in the mental health of young people and/or the application of creative practices to enhance health and wellbeing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Inpatient Institutional Care: The Forced Social Environment.

The landscape of mental health recovery is changing; there have been calls for a shift from the clinical expertise being the dominant voice within mental healthcare towards a more personalised and collaborative service that supports those in need of mental healthcare to define what recovery is for the individual. Within this new recovery movement, there has been a recognition of the importance of the social environment in which individuals are situated and the relationship of this to mental health and wellbeing. Included in this is the importance of an individual's role within society and the ways in which knowledge, such as experts by experience, can hold an important value. The argument then, is that social connectedness forms part of the recovery journey and that relationships can help us develop or re-connect with who we are in powerful ways. Such a view has only been strengthened by the recent and ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. Within the UK, discussions of the importance of our wellbeing have become commonplace within the context of restricted social contact. With this heightened awareness of how the social contributes to wellbeing, it is important to consider the environments in which those in receipt of mental healthcare are situated. One of which is institutionalised care, where it is commonplace to restrict social contact. For example, by virtue of being within a locked environment, individuals' freedom of movement is often non-existent and thus contacts with those not residing or working within the institution is restricted. While such restrictions may be deemed necessary to protect the individual's mental health, such environments can be unintentionally toxic. Data are presented from an ethnography that was conducted within an inpatient forensic mental health hospital in the UK to highlight the problematic social environment which some individuals experience. Key interpersonal issues are presented, such as, trust, racism, the threat of physical violence and bullying that was experienced by staff and residents at the hospital. Consideration is given to the coping strategies enacted by residents and the pathologising of such behaviour. The consequences on interpersonal wellbeing are explored.

Editorial Perspective: Cabin fever - the impact of lockdown on children and young people.

This article debates the impact of the pandemic lockdown on the mental health of children and young people. It proposes that children and young people have been subject to the kind of psychological distress that has featured as the folk syndrome, cabin fever. Drawing on the evidence about the impact of prolonged confinement and isolation on mental health, not least in penal and spaceflight contexts, the article points to a long tail of mental health challenges for children and young people through and in the wake of the pandemic. Finally, the article summarizes some of the antidotes for cabin fever and new, exciting, creative digital interventions that may assist upstream mental health literacy and complement and support the work of child and adolescent mental health services.

Social, cultural and community engagement and mental health: cross-disciplinary, co-produced research agenda.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing cross-disciplinary research on the relationship between individuals' social, cultural and community engagement (SCCE) and mental health. SCCE includes engagement in the arts, culture and heritage, libraries and literature, sports and nature activities, volunteering, and community groups. Research has demonstrated the effects of these activities both on the prevention and management of mental illness. However, it remains unclear whether current research is focusing on the research questions that are of most immediate urgency and relevance to policy and practice. AIMS: The current project was funded as part of the UK Research and Innovation cross-disciplinary mental health network programme to develop and co-produce a new cross-disciplinary research agenda on SCCE and mental health. METHOD: Established processes and principles for developing health research agendas were followed, with a six-phase design including engagement with over 1000 key stakeholders, consultations, integration of findings and collective prioritisation of key questions. RESULTS: We identified four core themes: the mode of engagement, process of engagement, impact of engagement and infrastructure required to facilitate engagement. There were many points of agreement across all stakeholder groups on the priority questions within these themes, but also some specific questions of relevance to different sectors. CONCLUSIONS: This agenda is particularly timely given the extreme pressure on mental health services predicted to follow the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to identify how resources from other sectors can be mobilised, and what research questions are going to be most important to fund to support SCCE for mental health.