Enhancing GP care of Mental Health Disorders post COVID-19: A scoping review of interventions and outcomes

Conference:

SAPC ASM 2022 - UCLan

Talk Code:

P1.5A.1

Presenter:

Geoff McCombe

Twitter:

@geoffmccombe

Co-authors:

Bláthnaid Keyes1, John Broughan1, Timothy Frawley1, Allys Guerandel1,2, Gautam Gulati3, Brendan D. Kelly4, Brian Osborne5, Karen O’Connor6, Walter Cullen1

Author institutions:

1University College Dublin, Ireland, 2Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Research, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, 3University of Limerick, Ireland, 4Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, 5Irish College of General Practitioners, Ireland, 6Cork University Hospital, Ireland

Problem

Considerable literature has examined the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative mental health sequelae. It is recognised that most people experiencing mental health problems present to primary care at least in the first instance and the development of interventions to support GPs in the care of patients with mental health problems is a priority. This review examined interventions to enhance GP care of mental health disorders, with a view to reviewing how mental health needs might be addressed in the post-COVID-19.

Approach

A scoping review was conducted using the six-stage framework described by Arksey and O’Malley to collate existing literature, identify key findings and outline current research gaps in relation to interventions which may improve the treatment of mental health disorders post-pandemic. Five electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and WHO “Global Research on COVID-19”) were searched from May – June 2021.

Findings

The initial search identified 148 articles and a total of 29 were included in the review. These studies adopted a range of methodologies, most commonly randomised control trials, qualitative interviews and surveys. Results from included studies were divided into themes: Interventions to improve identification of mental health disorders, Interventions to support GPs, Therapeutic interventions, Telemedicine Interventions and Barriers and Facilitators to Intervention Implementation. Outcome measures reported included the Seven-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the Nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the ‘The Patient Global Impression of Change Scale’.

Consequences

Studies highlighted the feasibility and effectiveness of digital mental health interventions and suggested that their use is likely to persist after the current pandemic. However it is important that digital mental health interventions are supported by requisite standards of evidence, funding, and data protection legislation. With increasing recognition of the mental health sequelae of COVID-19, there is a lack of large scale trials researching the acceptability and effectiveness of general practice interventions, and a lack of research regarding possible biological interventions (psychiatric medications) for mental health problems arising from the pandemic.

Submitted by:

Geoff McCombe

Funding acknowledgement:

N/A