ArticleSchizophrenia research2025
Changes in first-episode psychosis care delivery and outcomes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from a learning healthcare system in Massachusetts.
Article in Schizophrenia research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a notable and continued impact on global mental health and healthcare delivery. Data regarding the effect of the pandemic on first-episode psychosis (FEP) services are limited but emerging. This study assessed changes in demographics, treatment engagement, baseline clinical presentations, and treatment outcomes in Massachusetts psychosis clinics throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsBetween January 2017 and October 2022, routine clinical assessment data were collected from 735 individuals receiving care in one of 12 FEP clinics in Massachusetts. Assessments were completed at intake and at 6-month intervals thereafter over the course of patients' usual care. This dataset was divided into three periods: pre-pandemic (01/2017-02/2020), pre-vaccination pandemic (03/2020-05/2021), and post-vaccination pandemic (06/2021-10/2022). Chi-square, ANOVA, and time-series analyses were conducted on demographic and clinical variables of interest across these three timepoints.
resultsDemographic profiles of new patients differed between the pre-pandemic and post-vaccine periods, with significant decreases in female (F = 30.9, p < 0.01) and Black (F = 28.8, p < 0.01) individuals obtaining care. Service use also decreased significantly and showed sustained changes into the late-pandemic period. New patients in the post-pandemic periods showed overall lower symptom severity and higher social functioning (F = 4.62, p < 0.01), self-reported quality of life (F = 4.15, p = 0.02), and recent alcohol use (χ
conclusionsWe propose three explanations for these findings. First, improvements in baseline presentations post-pandemic may be related to systemic changes in care availability that occurred. Second, decreases in symptom severity and service use suggest a growing subgroup of individuals with FEP who require a broader but less intensive range of services. Third, and most critically, the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to some disparities in access to care for FEP services. Future efforts to expand early intervention services for psychosis need to consider the lasting changes in care delivery that still exist post pandemic, novel stepped care models, equity and access to care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.