COVID-19: Mental Health Prevention and Care for Healthcare Professionals.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exposed health professionals to high stress levels inducing significant psychological impact. Our region, Grand Est, was the most impacted French region during the first COVID-19 wave. In this context, we created CoviPsyHUS, local mental health prevention and care system dedicated explicitly to healthcare workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in one of this region's tertiary hospitals. We deployed CoviPsyHUS gradually in 1 month. To date, CoviPsyHUS comprises 60 mental health professionals dedicated to 4 complementary components: (i) a mental health support hotline (170 calls), (ii) relaxation rooms (used by 2,120 healthcare workers with 110 therapeutic workshops offered), (iii) mobile teams (1,200 contacts with healthcare staff), and (iv) a section dedicated to patients and their families. Among the critical points to integrate mental health care system during a crisis, we identified: (i) massive dissemination of mental health support information with multimodal communication, (ii) clear identification of the mental health support system, (iii) proactive mobile teams to identify healthcare professionals in difficulty, (iv) concrete measures to relieve the healthcare professionals under pressure (e.g., the relay in communication with families), (v) support for primary needs (body care (physiotherapy), advice and first-line therapy for sleep disorders), and (vi) psychoeducation and emotion management techniques. The different components of CoviPsyHUS are vital elements in meeting the needs of caregivers in situations of continuous stress. The organization of 4 targeted, modular, and rapidly deployable components makes CoviPsyHUS an innovative, reactive, and replicable mental health prevention and care system that could serve as a universal support model for other COVID-19 affected teams or other exceptional health crises in the future.

The Intertwining of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Alcohol, Tobacco or Nicotine Use, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) and alcohol, tobacco, or nicotine use are frequently associated conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stressful situation globally and has worsened mental health conditions and addictions in the population. Our systematic review explores the links between PTSSs and (1) alcohol use and (2) tobacco or nicotine use during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We searched the PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases for studies published between January 2020 and 16 December 2021. We included studies published in English concerning adults or adolescents. Included articles dealt simultaneously with the COVID-19 pandemic, PTSSs, and alcohol, tobacco, or nicotine use. The reports included were cross-sectional, longitudinal, or cohort studies. We categorized the reports according to the population explored. Our main outcomes are the impacts of PTSSs on (1) alcohol use and (2) tobacco and nicotine use and their relation to COVID-19-related stressors (worries, exposure, lockdown, and infection, either of self or relatives). RESULTS: Of the 503 reports identified, 44 were assessed for eligibility, and 16 were included in our review, encompassing 34,408 participants. The populations explored were the general population, healthcare workers, war veterans, patients with substance use disorders, and other vulnerable populations. Most studies were online surveys (14) with cross-sectional designs (11). Every study explored alcohol use, while only two assessed tobacco use. In most populations explored, a high level of PTSSs was associated with alcohol use increase. COVID-19-related stress was frequently correlated with either high PTSSs or alcohol use. In healthcare workers, PTSSs and alcohol use were not associated, while COVID-19 worries were related to both PTSSs and alcohol use. DISCUSSION: 1. PTSSs and increased alcohol use are frequently associated, while COVID-19 worries might trigger both conditions and worsen their association. Alcohol use increase may represent either an inadequate way of coping with PTSSs or a vulnerability amid the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to PTSSs. As most studies were cross-sectional online surveys, longitudinal prospective studies are needed to ascertain the direction of the associations between these conditions. These studies need to be sufficiently powered and control for potential bias and confounders. 2. Our review highlighted that research about PTSSs and tobacco or nicotine use is scarce.

Facing the pandemic and lockdown: an insight on mental health from a longitudinal study using diaries

We conducted a longitudinal online study to examine attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS) over time in a sample of locked-down individuals. We used (i) questionnaires and (ii) the automatic analysis of the emotional content of narratives. Participants (N = 162) were recruited to complete an online survey 4 times between March and June 2020 (T1, T2, T3, T4). T1 completion coincided with the beginning of the lockdown, and T4 with the pandemic trough. Depression, anxiety, and stress were assessed with the DASS-42 and APS with the PQ-16. Psychosocial data such as the feeling of loneliness and social network size were also collected. The participants wrote daily narratives during the lockdown period. Anxiety and APS were the highest at T1 and decreased over time. APS and APS-associated distress were correlated with the DASS-42 at all times. APS arose acutely at the beginning of the pandemic, despite participants being socio-economically advantaged, and were related with negative emotions.

My Health Too: Investigating the Feasibility and the Acceptability of an Internet-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Program Developed for Healthcare Workers.

Background: The COVID-19 crisis has had a considerable mental health impact on healthcare workers. High levels of psychological distress are expected to have a significant impact on healthcare systems, warranting the need for evidence-based psychological interventions targeting stress and fostering resilience in this population. Online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proved to be effective in targeting stress and promoting resilience. However, online CBT programs targeting stress in healthcare workers are lacking. Objective: The aim of our study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of an internet-based CBT intervention, the My Health Too program we developed during the first COVID-19 epidemic peak in France. Methods: We recruited 10 participants among Alsace region hospital staff during the first peak of the pandemic in France. They were given 1 week to test the website and were then asked to answer an internet survey and a semi-structured phone interview. Results: We conducted a thematic analysis of the content from the phone interviews. Major themes were identified, discussed and coded: the technical aspects, the content of the website and its impact on participants' emotions and everyday life. Overall, the participants reported finding the website easy to use and interactive. They described the resources as easy to understand, readily usable, and useful in inducing calm and in helping them practice self-compassion. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the My Health Too online CBT program is highly feasible and acceptable to healthcare workers during the highly stressful times of the pandemic peak. The feedback provided helped to improve the program whose efficacy is to be tested.

Efficacy of an online cognitive behavioral therapy program developed for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: the REduction of STress (REST) study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The acknowledgment of the mental health toll of the COVID-19 epidemic in healthcare workers has increased considerably as the disease evolved into a pandemic status. Indeed, high prevalence rates of depression, sleep disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been reported in Chinese healthcare workers during the epidemic peak. Symptoms of psychological distress are expected to be long-lasting and have a systemic impact on healthcare systems, warranting the need for evidence-based psychological treatments aiming at relieving immediate stress and preventing the onset of psychological disorders in this population. In the current COVID-19 context, internet-based interventions have the potential to circumvent the pitfalls of face-to-face formats and provide the flexibility required to facilitate accessibility to healthcare workers. Online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in particular has proved to be effective in treating and preventing a number of stress-related disorders in populations other than healthcare workers. The aim of our randomized controlled trial study protocol is to evaluate the efficacy of the 'My Health too' CBT program-a program we have developed for healthcare workers facing the pandemic-on immediate perceived stress and on the emergence of psychiatric disorders at 3- and 6-month follow-up compared to an active control group (i.e., bibliotherapy). METHODS: Powered for superiority testing, this six-site open trial involves the random assignment of 120 healthcare workers with stress levels > 16 on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) to either the 7-session online CBT program or bibliotherapy. The primary outcome is the decrease of PSS-10 scores at 8 weeks. Secondary outcomes include depression, insomnia, and PTSD symptoms; self-reported resilience and rumination; and credibility and satisfaction. Assessments are scheduled at pretreatment, mid-treatment (at 4 weeks), end of active treatment (at 8 weeks), and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up. DISCUSSION: This is the first study assessing the efficacy and the acceptability of a brief online CBT program specifically developed for healthcare workers. Given the potential short- and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers' mental health, but also on healthcare systems, our findings can significantly impact clinical practice and management of the ongoing, and probably long-lasting, health crisis. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04362358 , registered on April 24, 2020.