Sustaining the unsustainable: Rapid implementation of a Support Intervention for Bereavement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Mallet J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10122639 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan-Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Sustaining the unsustainable: Rapid implementation of a Support Intervention for Bereavement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mallet Jasmina J Le Strat Yann Y Colle Maxime M Cardot Hélène H Dubertret Caroline C
General hospital psychiatry 20201210
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Project description:The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had wide-ranging negative impacts on mental health. The pandemic also placed extraordinary strain on frontline workers who were required to continue working and putting themselves at risk to provide essential services at a time when their normal support mechanisms may not have been available. This paper presents an evaluation of the Time for You service, a rapidly developed and implemented intervention aimed at providing frontline workers with quick access to flexible online mental health support. Time for You provided service users with three service options: self-guided online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) resources; guided engagement with online CBT resources; 1-1 psychological therapy with trainee sport and exercise psychologists and trainee health psychologists. A process evaluation informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research considered service fidelity, adaptations, perceived impact, reach, barriers, and facilitators. Interviews with project managers (n = 5), delivery staff (n = 10), and service users (n = 14) explored perceptions of the service implementation and outcomes, supported by data regarding engagement with the online CBT platform (n = 217). Findings indicated that service users valued the flexibility of the service and the speed with which they were able to access support. The support offered by Trainee Psychologists was perceived to be of high quality, and the service was perceived by service users to have improved mental health and wellbeing. The rapid implementation contributed to issues regarding appropriate service user screening that led to trainee psychologists being unable to provide the service users with the support they needed as the presenting issues were outside of trainees' competencies. Overall, the findings suggest that interventions offering flexible, online psychological support to frontline workers can be an effective model for future interventions. Trainee psychologists are also able to play an important role in delivering such services when clear screening processes are in place.
| S-EPMC10610521 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionApproximately one in five people will experience a death by suicide during their lifetime. Struggling to understand their experiences, people bereaved by suicide often require formal support including support groups, online resources and discussion forums. While previous research has focused on examining experiences of grief, little is known about the implementation of support programs for people bereaved by suicide.MethodsAdhering to PRISMA-ScR guidelines, eight databases were searched for peer-reviewed studies that focused on the strategies or evaluation of the implementation of suicide postvention programs.ResultsSixteen studies met the eligibility criteria. A narrative synthesis of study findings mapped to the Proctor implementation framework shows that a variety of implementation outcomes have been assessed by different studies; however, there is limited use of formal implementation frameworks to guide analysis.DiscussionRecommendations from this review indicate the need for consistent terminology and better utilisation of implementation frameworks to guide postvention research and provide a well-rounded view of implementation. Increasing the use of reliable and validated tools to measure implementation outcomes will also increase the rigour of implementation research in this field.Systematic review registrationhttps://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/4RB92.
| S-EPMC11602391 | biostudies-literature
Project description:MotivationPlatform designs - master protocols that allow for new treatment arms to be added over time - have gained considerable attention in recent years. Between 2001 and 2019, 16 platform trials were initiated globally. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have provided a new motivation for these designs. We conducted a rapid review to quantify and describe platform trials used in COVID-19.MethodsWe cross-referenced PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the Cytel COVID-19 Clinical Trials Tracker to identify platform trials, defined by their stated ability to add future arms.ResultsWe identified 58 COVID-19 platform trials globally registered between January 2020 and May 2021. According to trial registries, 16 trials have added new therapies (median 3, IQR 4) and 11 have dropped arms (median 3, IQR 2.5). About 50% of trials publicly share their protocol, and 31 trials (53%) intend to share trial data. Forty-nine trials (84%) explicitly report adaptive features, and 21 trials (36%) state Bayesian methods.ConclusionsDuring the pandemic, there has been a surge in the number of platform trials compared to historical use. While transparency in statistical methods and clarity of data sharing policies needs improvement, platform trials appear particularly well-suited for rapid evidence generation. Trials secured funding quickly and many succeeded in adding new therapies in a short time period, thus demonstrating the potential for these trial designs to be implemented beyond the pandemic. The evidence gathered here may provide ample insight to further inform operational, statistical, and regulatory aspects of future platform trial conduct.
| S-EPMC8591985 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with high rates of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Prone positioning improves mortality in moderate-to-severe ARDS. Strategies to increase prone positioning under crisis conditions are needed.Material and methodsWe describe the development of a mobile prone team during the height of the crisis in New York City and describe characteristics and outcomes of mechanically ventilated patients who received prone positioning between April 2, 2020 and April 30, 2020.ResultsNinety patients underwent prone positioning for moderate-to-severe ARDS. Sixty-six patients (73.3%) were men, with a median age of 64 years (IQR 53-71), and the median PaO2:FiO2 ratio was 107 (IQR 85-140) prior to prone positioning. Patients required an average of 3 ± 2.2 prone sessions and the median time of each prone session was 19 h (IQR 17.5-20.75). By the end of the study period, proning was discontinued in sixty-seven (65.1%) cases due to clinical improvement, twenty (19.4%) cases due to lack of clinical improvement, six (5.8%) cases for clinical worsening, and ten (9.7%) cases due to a contraindication.ConclusionThe rapid development of a mobile prone team safely provided prone positioning to a large number of COVID-19 patients with moderate-to-severe ARDS.
| S-EPMC7446722 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Executive summaryThe COVID-19 pandemic, with its resultant social distancing, has disrupted the delivery of healthcare for both patients and providers. Fortunately, changes to legislation and regulation in response to the pandemic allowed Emory Healthcare to rapidly implement telehealth care. Beginning in early March 2020 and continuing through the initial 2-month implementation period (when data collection stopped), clinicians received telehealth training and certification. Standard workflows created by means of a hub-and-spoke operational model enabled rapid sharing and deployment of best practices throughout the system's physician group practice. Lean process huddles facilitated successful implementation. In total, 2,374 healthcare professionals, including 986 attending physicians, 416 residents and fellows, and 555 advanced practice providers, were trained and certified for telehealth; 53,751 new- and established-patient audio-video telehealth visits and 10,539 established-patient telephone visits were performed in 8 weeks for a total of 64,290 virtual visits. This initiative included a new COVID-19 virtual patient clinic that saw 705 patients in a 6-week period. A total of $14,662,967 was charged during this time; collection rates were similar to in-person visits. Initial patient satisfaction scores were equivalent to in-person visits. We conclude that rapid deployment of virtual visits can be accomplished through a structured, organized approach including training, certification, and Lean principles. A hub-and-spoke model enables bidirectional feedback and timely improvements, thus facilitating swifter implementation and a quick rise in patient volume. Financial sustainability is achievable, but to sustain that, telehealth requires the support of continued deregulation by legislative and regulatory bodies.
| S-EPMC7671820 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Cabo Verde reported the first case of COVID-19 on March 19, 2020. Containment measures were quickly implemented and over 80,000 COVID-19 tests were performed in 2020 with 11,840 confirmed infections (2% of the population) and 154 deaths. In a setting where the last locally acquired malaria case was reported in January 2018, any interruptions to malaria care-seeking have the potential for infections to go untreated and transmission re-establishing. This work aims to determine whether there was any change in the number of people seeking care or being tested for malaria and, using an interrupted time series analysis, identify if any change was associated with implemented COVID-19 measures. Routinely collected surveillance data for outpatient visits, testing for malaria and COVID-19 were aggregated by month for each health facility (outpatient and malaria) or by municipality (COVID-19) from 2017 through 2020. The timeline of COVID-19 measures was generated based on when and where they were implemented. Results show that there was a marked shift in care-seeking in Cabo Verde. Overall, the mean number of observed outpatient visits decreased from 2,057 visits per month during 2017-2019 to 1,088 in 2020, an estimated 28% reduction. However, malaria testing rates per 1,000 outpatient visits after the pandemic began increased by 8% compared to expected trends. Results suggest that the pandemic impacted care-seeking but led to a non-significant increase in testing for malaria per 1,000 outpatient visits. With the cessation of international travel, the risk of imported infections seeding new transmission declined suggesting the risk of undetected transmission was low. It is important for countries to understand their specific malaria risks and vulnerabilities in order to ensure that any progress towards the interruption of malaria transmission can be sustained.
| S-EPMC9582766 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for psychological support initiatives directed toward frontline healthcare workers, which can be rapidly and sustainably implemented during an infectious disease outbreak. The current case study presents a comprehensive model of psychological support that was implemented at an intensive care unit (ICU) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The psychological support model aimed at promoting a resilient stress reaction among frontline staff by protecting physical, social, and psychological resources. The initiatives, targeting different groups of workers, included education and training, peer support, psychologist-supervised and unsupervised group sessions, on-boarding for transferred staff, manager support, and individual sessions for workers experiencing strong stress reactions. The results of the process evaluation of this rapid implementation suggest that peer support initiatives as well as daily group sessions were the most appreciated forms of psychological support. Psychologists involved in organizing and providing the support highlighted several aspects of a successful implementation of the support model: offering support during work hours (preferably after shift), positive attitude of line managers that framed support initiatives as a team effort, and involvement of experienced psychologists able to quickly adjust the content of the support according to the current needs. The study also identified two main problems of the current implementation: the lack of efficient planning due to the use of volunteer work and the need for more structural resources on the organizational level to ensure long-term sustainability of the support model and its implementation among all groups of healthcare staff. The current case study highlights the importance of establishing permanent structural resources and routines for psychological support integrated in clinical practice by healthcare organizations to improve both rapid and sustainable response to future crises.
| S-EPMC8446385 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Sustaining economic activities while curbing the number of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases until effective vaccines or treatments become available is a major public health and policy challenge. In this paper, we use agent-based simulations of a network-based susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (SEIR) model to investigate two network intervention strategies for mitigating the spread of transmission while maintaining economic activities. In the simulations, we assume that people engage in group activities in multiple sectors (e.g., going to work, going to a local grocery store), where they interact with others in the same group and potentially become infected. In the first strategy, each group is divided into two subgroups (e.g., a group of customers can only go to the grocery store in the morning, while another separate group of customers can only go in the afternoon). In the second strategy, we balance the number of group members across different groups within the same sector (e.g., every grocery store has the same number of customers). The simulation results show that the dividing groups strategy substantially reduces transmission, and the joint implementation of the two strategies could effectively bring the spread of transmission under control (i.e., effective reproduction number ≈ 1.0).
| S-EPMC7720236 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for first responders (eg, police, fire, and emergency medical services) and nonmedical essential workers (eg, workers in food, transportation, and other industries). Health systems may be uniquely suited to support these workers given their medical expertise, and mobile apps can reach local communities despite social distancing requirements. Formal evaluation of real-world mobile app-based interventions is lacking.ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the adoption, acceptability, and appropriateness of an academic medical center-sponsored app-based intervention (COVID-19 Guide App) designed to support access of first responders and essential workers to COVID-19 information and testing services. We also sought to better understand the COVID-19-related needs of these workers early in the pandemic.MethodsTo understand overall community adoption, views and download data of the COVID-19 Guide App were described. To understand the adoption, appropriateness, and acceptability of the app and the unmet needs of workers, semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted by telephone, by video, and in person with first responders and essential workers in the San Francisco Bay Area who were recruited through purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling. Interview transcripts and field notes were qualitatively analyzed and presented using an implementation outcomes framework.ResultsFrom its launch in April 2020 to September 2020, the app received 8262 views from unique devices and 6640 downloads (80.4% conversion rate, 0.61% adoption rate across the Bay Area). App acceptability was mixed among the 17 first responders interviewed and high among the 10 essential workers interviewed. Select themes included the need for personalized and accurate information, access to testing, and securing personal safety. First responders faced additional challenges related to interprofessional coordination and a "culture of heroism" that could both protect against and exacerbate health vulnerability.ConclusionsFirst responders and essential workers both reported challenges related to obtaining accurate information, testing services, and other resources. A mobile app intervention has the potential to combat these challenges through the provision of disease-specific information and access to testing services but may be most effective if delivered as part of a larger ecosystem of support. Differentiated interventions that acknowledge and address the divergent needs between first responders and non-first responder essential workers may optimize acceptance and adoption.
| S-EPMC8139393 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-BSST1055 | biostudies-other