Impact of COVID-19 on the lives of people with severe mental illness-front-line community psychiatry workers observation from a provincial survey of assertive community treatment teams in Ontario, Canada.

Aly Kassam, Michaela Beder, Saadia Sediqzadah, Matthew Levy, Madeleine Ritts, John Maher, Nicole Kirwan, Samuel Law

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in International journal of mental health systems, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

8 authors.

Aly KassamMAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Unity Health Toronto, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Michaela BederDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Saadia SediqzadahMAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Unity Health Toronto, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Matthew LevyDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Madeleine RittsDepartment of Psychiatry, Unity Health Toronto, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.

John MaherCanadian Mental Health Association, Barrie and Ontario Association of ACT and FACT, Barrie, ON, Canada.

Nicole KirwanDepartment of Psychiatry, Unity Health Toronto, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Samuel LawMAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Unity Health Toronto, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada. Samuel.Law@unityhealth.to.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Using an online survey distributed to members of the provincial organization that represents the 88 Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Flexible ACT teams in Ontario, Canada, this descriptive study relied on the unique vantage points and observations of the front-line community psychiatry workers who maintained contact with patients through outreach and telecommunication during the height of COVID-19. The patients who suffer from serious mental illness (SMI) were uniquely affected by COVID-19 due to the changes, reduction or shut down of many essential clinical and community support services. Thematic and quantitative analyses of the workers' observations highlighted 6 main areas of note, including significant social isolation and loneliness, clinical course deterioration and life disruption, increased hospital and ER use, police and legal contacts, and substance abuse and related deaths. There were also encouraging signs of positive adaptations in terms of independence and resilience. Reflections of these impacts and potential ameliorating approaches are further discussed.

Indexed as

Assertive community treatmentCommunity mental healthCOVID-19Observational studyObserved impactSerious mental illness

Identifiers

PMID37328776

DOI10.1186/s13033-023-00585-8

PMCPMC10273506

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LicenceCC BY

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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.