Occupational Therapy in Mental Health via Telehealth during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about changes in mental health occupational therapy. Research into these changes and the associated risks of relapse is insufficient. To explore the changes that have taken place in forms of occupational intervention (face-to-face and online) during the pandemic, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-07, Vol.18 (13), p.7138
Main Authors: Sánchez-Guarnido, Antonio José, Domínguez-Macías, Esther, Garrido-Cervera, José Antonio, González-Casares, Roberto, Marí-Boned, Silvia, Represa-Martínez, Águeda, Herruzo, Carlos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of daily living
Chi-square test
Communicable Disease Control
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Disease transmission
Humans
Intervention
Medical research
Mental disorders
Mental Health
Occupational Therapy
Pandemics
Patients
Population
Retrospective Studies
SARS-CoV-2
Schizophrenia
Social networks
Social research
Telemedicine
Variables
Video teleconferencing
Videoconferencing
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about changes in mental health occupational therapy. Research into these changes and the associated risks of relapse is insufficient. To explore the changes that have taken place in forms of occupational intervention (face-to-face and online) during the pandemic, and to analyze their association with subsequent relapses, a multicenter retrospective cohort study was carried out of 270 patients with mental disorder diagnoses under follow-up in day hospitals during 2020. Our results show that the frequency of face-to-face occupational therapy interventions decreased during lockdown and subsequently recovered. Interventions via telehealth increased during lockdown and have since been continued to a greater extent than before lockdown. Patients who received occupational intervention via telehealth relapsed less in the following six months (10.7% vs. 26.3%; χ = 10.372; = 0.001), especially those who received intervention via videoconferencing (4.2% vs. 22%; χ = 5.718; = 0.017). In conclusion, lockdown subsequent to the COVID-19 outbreak led to a reduction in face-to-face occupational therapy interventions, putting people with prior mental disorders at risk, while the implementation of telehealth tools helped reduce relapses.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph18137138