Mental health policy: protecting community mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic


Retno Lestari
School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia.

Febri Endra Budi Setyawan
Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, Malang, Indonesia.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2742-0561

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing interest in the treatment and management of COVID-19, communities still end up experiencing multiple stresses with mental health crisis, due to the pandemic. When this is not addressed, it causes stress in the long run, with further mental health damage in individuals and the communities. Furthermore, relevant policy related to the community mental health was identified as awareness in promoting mental issues, yet there are still failures recorded in the aspect of adequately addressing the well-being concerns.

This study aims to support community mental health during the crisis, through useful information from relevant articles. It also explains some perspectives from literature reviews, case reports, with society responses from Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Proquest databases concerning recent community mental health issues, and government policy on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The inclusion criteria required articles that were peer-reviewed, by using i) English language March-September 2020; ii) Presented empirical studies related to COVID-19 (quantitative and qualitative); iii) Searched terms related to the general and community mental health, their policy, and COVID-19 pandemic.

This study showed 19 articles related to community mental health issues or psychological wellbeing topics. The interventions provided to strengthen community mental health during the pandemic included emergency psychological crisis treatment, hotline assistance, online counseling service with mental care course, and outpatient consultation. Therefore, community mental health issues should be addressed with physical wellness. In addition, the community plays a key role in influencing stakeholders and governments, to increase the priority in supporting mental health.

 

REFERENCES

Nurhalimah N. [Upaya Bela Negara Melalui Sosial Distancing dan Lockdown untuk Mengatasi Wabah COVID-19 (Efforts to Defend the Country through Social Distancing and Lockdown to Overcome the COVID-19 plague)]. SSRN 2020 [cited 2020 April 26]. Available from: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3576405

Hiremath P, Suhas Kowshik CS, Manjunath M, Shettar M. COVID 19: Impact of lock-down on mental health and tips to overcome. Asian J Psychiatr 2020;51:102088. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102088

Gavidia M. How has COVID-19 affected mental health, severity of stress among employees? AJMC 2020 [updated 2020 April 20; cited 2020 April 26]. Available from: https://www.ajmc.com/newsroom/how-has-COVID19-affected-mental-health-severity-of-stress-among-employees

Mukhtar S. Mental health and psychosocial aspects of coronavirus outbreak in Pakistan: Psychological intervention for public mental health crisis. Asian J Psychiatr 2020;51:102069289. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102069

Meng H, Xu Y, Dai J, et al. The psychological effect of COVID-19 on the elderly in China. Psychiatry Res 2020;289:112983. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112983

Golberstein E, Wen H, Miller BF. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and mental health for children and adolescents. JAMA Pediatr 2020;174:819-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1456

Pan Y, Xin M, Zhang C, et al. Associations of mental health and personal preventive measure compliance with exposure to COVID-19 information during work resumption following the COVID-19 outbreak in China: Cross-sectional survey study. J Med Internet Res 2020;22:e22596. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/22596

Joob B, Wiwanitkit V. Medical personnel, COVID-19 and emotional impact. Psychiatry Res 2020;288:112952. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112952

Xiang Y-T, Yang Y, Li W, et al. Timely mental health care for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is urgently needed. Lancet Psychiatry 2020;7:228-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30046-8

Neto MLR, Almeida HG, Esmeraldo JD, et al. When health professionals look death in the eye: the mental health of professionals who deal daily with the 2019 coronavirus outbreak. Psychiatry Res 2020;288:112972. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112972

Torales J, O’Higgins M, Castaldelli-Maia JM, et al. The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2020;66:317-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020915212

World Health Organization. Mental health and psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak. Geneva: WHO; 2020.

Gao J, Zheng P, Jia Y, et al. Mental health problems and social media exposure during COVID-19 outbreak. PLoS One 2020;15:e0231924. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231924

Tanne JH. Covid-19: Mental health and economic problems are worse in US than in other rich nations. BMJ 2020;370:m3110. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3110

Newby JM, O’Moore K, Tang S, et al. Acute mental health responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. PLoS One 2020;15:e0236562. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236562

Gurvich C, Thomas N, Thomas EH, et al. Coping styles and mental health in response to societal changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2020;20764020961790. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020961790

Mumtaz M. COVID-19 and mental health challenges in Pakistan. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020954487

Pedrosa AL, Bitencourt L, Fróes ACF, et al. Emotional, behavioral, and psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Front Psycho. 2020;11:566212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566212

Otu A, Charles CH, Yaya S. Mental health and psychosocial well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: the invisible elephant in the room. Int J Ment Health Syst 2020;14:38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-020-00371-w

Pan K-Y, Kok AAL, Eikelenboom M, et al. The mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with and without depressive, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorders: a longitudinal study of three Dutch case-control cohorts. Lancet Psychiatry 2021;8:P121-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30491-0

Dong L, Bouey J. Public mental health crisis during COVID-19 pandemic, China. Emerg Infect Dis 2020;26:1616-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2607.200407

Yao H, Chen J-H, Xu Y-F. Rethinking online mental health services in China during the COVID-19 epidemic. Asian J Psychiatr 2020;50:102015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102015

Hopman J, Allegranzi B, Mehtar S. Managing COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries. JAMA 2020;323:1549-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4169

Lee J. Mental health effects of school closures during COVID-19. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2020;4:421. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30109-7

Xie X, Xue Q, Zhou Y, et al. mental health status among children in home confinement during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 outbreak in Hubei Province, China. JAMA Pediatr 2020;174:898-900. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1619

Narzisi A. Handle the autism spectrum condition during Coronavirus (COVID-19) stay at home period: Ten tips for helping parents and caregivers of young children. Brain Sci 2020;10:207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10040207

Zhang Y, Ma ZF. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and quality of life among local residents in Liaoning Province, China: A cross-sectional study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020;17:2381. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17072381

Du J, Dong L, Wang T, et al. Psychological symptoms among frontline healthcare workers during COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2020;67:144-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2020.03.011

Ricci-Cabello I, Meneses-Echavez JF, Serrano-Ripoll MJ, et al. Impact of viral epidemic outbreaks on mental health of healthcare workers: A rapid systematic review. medRxiv 2020. 04.02.20048892. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.02.20048892

Sun N, Shi S, Jiao D, et al. A qualitative study on the psychological experience of caregivers of COVID-19 patients. Am J Infecti Control 2020;4:20048892. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2020.03.018

Ju Y, Zhang Y, Wang X, et al. China’s mental health support in response to COVID-19: progression, challenges and reflection. Global Health 2020;16:102. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00634-8

Dotson S, Ciarocco S, Koh KA. Disaster psychiatry and homelessness: creating a mental health COVID-19 response. Lancet Psychiatry 202;7:1006-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30343-6

Li W, Yang Y, Liu ZH, et al. Progression of mental health services during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Int J Biol Sci 2020;16:1732-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.45120

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Ika Setyo Rini, Titik Rahmayani, Efris Kartika Sari, Retno Lestari, Differences in the quality of life of chronic kidney disease patients undergoing hemodialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis , Journal of Public Health Research: Vol 10 No 2 (2021): Papers from the 1st International Nursing and Health Science Symposium|Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia|13-15 November 2020

Febri Endra Budi Setyawan, Retno Lestari, Holistic-comprehensive approaches to improve nutritional status of children under five years , Journal of Public Health Research: Vol 10 No 2 (2021): Papers from the 1st International Nursing and Health Science Symposium|Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia|13-15 November 2020