Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37189115›Full record

ArticleBMC medical ethics2023

Situational vulnerability within mental healthcare - a qualitative analysis of ethical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mirjam Faissner, Anna Werning, Michael Winkelkötter, Holger Foullois, Michael Löhr, Jakov Gather

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical ethics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 31% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Mirjam FaissnerDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Alexandrinenstraße 1-3, Bochum, 44791, Germany. mirjam.faissner@rub.de.
Anna WerningDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Alexandrinenstraße 1-3, Bochum, 44791, Germany.
Michael WinkelkötterLandschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), LWL-Dezernat für Krankenhäuser und Gesundheitswesen / LWL-PsychiatrieVerbund Westfalen, Münster, Germany.
Holger FoulloisLandschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), LWL-Dezernat für Krankenhäuser und Gesundheitswesen / LWL-PsychiatrieVerbund Westfalen, Münster, Germany.
Michael LöhrLandschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), LWL-Klinikum Gütersloh, Gütersloh, Germany.
Jakov GatherDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Alexandrinenstraße 1-3, Bochum, 44791, Germany.
Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe · DERuhr University Bochum · DELWL-Universitätsklinikum Bochum · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMental healthcare users and patients were described as a particularly vulnerable group in the debate on the burdens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Just what this means and what normative conclusions can be derived from it depend to a large extent on the underlying concept of vulnerability. While a traditional understanding locates vulnerability in the characteristics of social groups, a situational and dynamic approach considers how social structures produce vulnerable social positions. The situation of users and patients in different psychosocial settings during the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet been comprehensively considered and ethically analyzed under the aspect of situational vulnerability.

methodsWe present the results of a retrospective qualitative analysis of a survey of ethical challenges in different mental healthcare facilities of a large regional mental healthcare provider in Germany. We evaluate them ethically using a dynamic and situational understanding of vulnerability.

resultsDifficulties in implementing infection prevention measures, restrictions of mental health services in favor of infection prevention, social isolation, negative health effects on mental healthcare users and patients, and challenges in implementing regulations on state and provider levels within the local specificities emerged across different mental healthcare settings as ethically salient topics.

conclusionsApplying a situational and dynamic understanding of vulnerability allows the identification of specific factors and conditions that have contributed to an increased context-dependent vulnerability for mental healthcare users and patients. These factors and conditions should be considered on the level of state and local regulations to reduce and address vulnerability.

Indexed as

COVID-19Mental Health ServicesDelivery of Health CareHumansPandemicsRetrospective StudiesDiscriminationMental healthcareOrganizational ethicsPsychiatryVulnerability

Identifiers

PMID37189115
PMCPMC10184624
OpenAlexW4376609439

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.