ArticleHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2021
The psychological burden of waiting for procedures and patient-centred strategies that could support the mental health of wait-listed patients and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review.
Article in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 111 citations in OpenAlex.
- Digital Mental Health Interventions for Alleviating Depression and Anxiety During Psychotherapy Waiting Lists: Systematic Review.JMIR mental health · 2024Pooled it
- Cochlear implantation impact on health service utilisation and social outcomes: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2023Pooled it
- Forward Planning: A Staffing Framework and Ratios for Psychosocial Oncology and Supportive Care Hiring Practices as Cancer Care Models Evolve.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Article
- Experiences of youth and caregivers waiting for mental health services in the UK: a qualitative study to inform policy and practice.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Impact of delayed elective urological surgery: A prospective observational study.BJUI compass · 2026Article
- Preoperative Health During a Pandemic: An Observational Study Assessing Lifestyle Changes in Patients Associated With COVID-19 in Western Australia.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Impact of the Federated Data Platform's digital surgery scheduling system on elective theatre utilisation at an NHS Trust: an interrupted time series analysis.BMJ health & care informatics · 2026Article
- Treatment delay and prolongation in locally advanced cervical cancer.Gynecologic oncology reports · 2026Article
- Observational
- Optimizing Operational Efficiency and Patient Satisfaction in Tumor Day Wards: An HFMEA-Based Process Redesign Study.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2026Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on management and outcomes of NHS patients with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis: evidence from a UK registry.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2026Article
- Improving oral health service delivery: the patient perspective.Primary health care research & development · 2025Article
- The emotional toll of day-of-surgery cancellations on patients - a qualitative study using participant observation and interviews.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- A clinically validated AI framework for kidney cancer detection and characterization.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Caregiver psychiatric symptoms, assessment delay, and access to supports for children with neurodevelopmental conditions.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- The importance of early and accurate service information for young people accessing gender care.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Assessment of Gynecologic Emergency Triage and Appointment Wait Times: A Mystery Caller Study.Cureus · 2025Article
- Mood instability as a transdiagnostic predictor of cannabis use in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and depression: A natural language processing analysis of electronic health records from 13,025 adolescents.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Article
- Patient priorities and decision-making process when choosing between colonic investigation alternatives: a qualitative interview study.BMJ open gastroenterology · 2025Observational
- Exploring Cutaneous Melanoma Patients' Experiences with Follow-Up Radiology: A Qualitative Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWaiting for procedures delayed by COVID-19 may cause anxiety and related adverse consequences.
objectiveTo synthesize research on the mental health impact of waiting and patient-centred mitigation strategies that could be applied in the COVID-19 context.
methodsUsing a scoping review approach, we searched 9 databases for studies on waiting lists and mental health and reported study characteristics, impacts and intervention attributes and outcomes.
resultsWe included 51 studies that focussed on organ transplant (60.8%), surgery (21.6%) or cancer management (13.7%). Most patients and caregivers reported anxiety, depression and poor quality of life, which deteriorated with increasing wait time. The impact of waiting on mental health was greater among women and new immigrants, and those of younger age, lower socio-economic status, or with less-positive coping ability. Six studies evaluated educational strategies to develop coping skills: 2 reduced depression (2 did not), 1 reduced anxiety (2 did not) and 2 improved quality of life (2 did not). In contrast, patients desired acknowledgement of concerns, peer support, and periodic communication about wait-list position, prioritization criteria and anticipated procedure date.
conclusionsFindings revealed patient-centred strategies to alleviate the mental health impact of waiting for procedures. Ongoing research should explore how to optimize the impact of those strategies for diverse patients and caregivers, particularly in the COVID-19 context. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Six patients and four caregivers waiting for COVID-19-delayed procedures helped to establish eligibility criteria, plan data extraction and review a draft and final report.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.