Rising to the Occasion of This COVID-19-Impacted Nation: Development, Implementation, and Feasibility of the Brief Assessment-Informed Skills Intervention for COVID-19 (BASIC)

• Published in: Cognitive and behavioral practice 2021-11, Vol.28 (4), p.468-480
• Main Authors: Hsu, Kean J., Carl, Emily, DiVita, Annabelle, Feldman, Talya, Foulser, Anna Alban, Freihart, Bridget, Madole, James, McNamara, Mary E., Rubin, Mikael, Stein, Aliza T., Tretyak, Valeria, Smits, Jasper A.J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: anxiety; COVID-19; single session intervention; stress
• ISSN: 1077-7229; 1878-187X; 1077-7229
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpra.2021.02.003

•The mental health impact of COVID-19 will outpace its physical health impact.•Existing therapeutic approaches may not be able to keep up with increased demand.•Single session interventions (SSI) may be one way of meeting increased demand.•Our SSI is designed specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic.•It provides a scalable approach to addressing mental health needs during COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the global economy, physical health, and mental health. This pandemic, like previous viral outbreaks, has resulted in spikes in anxiety, depression, and stress. Even though millions of individuals face the physical health consequences of infection by COVID-19, even more individuals are confronted with the mental health consequences of this pandemic. This significantly increased demand for mental health services cannot be easily met by existing mental health systems, which often rely on courses of therapy to be delivered over months. Single session interventions (SSIs) may be one important approach to meeting this increased demand, as they are treatments designed to be delivered over the course of a single meeting. SSIs have been found to be effective for a range of mental health challenges, with durable effects lasting months to years later. Here, we describe an SSI designed for the COVID-19 pandemic. This Brief Assessment-informed Skills Intervention for COVID-19 (BASIC) program draws upon therapeutic skills from existing empirically supported treatments to target common presenting complaints due to this pandemic. We discuss the process of developing and implementing this intervention, as well as explore feasibility and initial clinical insights. In short, BASIC is an easy-to-adopt intervention that is designed to be effective in a single session, making it well-suited for handling the increased demand for mental health services due to COVID-19.