Vaillant-Ciszewicz AJ, Couturier B, Segaux L, Canouï-Poitrine F, Guérin O, Bonin-Guillaume S. National cross-sectional survey on psychological impact on French nursing homes of the first lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic as observed by psychologists, psychomotor, and occupational therapists.
Front Public Health 2023;
11:1290594. [PMID:
38204978 PMCID:
PMC10778814 DOI:
10.3389/fpubh.2023.1290594]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Objectives
The main objective was to explore the psychological impact of the French lockdown during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing home residents, their relatives, and healthcare teams, as observed by mental health professionals.
Design
A national online cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 11 to June 9, 2020.
Setting and participants
Respondents were psychologists, psychomotor therapists, and occupational therapists (mental health professionals).
Results
A total of 1,062 participants responded to the survey, encompassing 59.8% psychologists, 29.2% occupational therapists, and 11% psychomotor therapists. All mental health professionals felt fear (76.1%), fatigue and exhaustion (84.5%), and inability to manage the emotional burden (78.4%). In nursing homes with COVID-19 cases, residents felt significantly sadder (83.2%), more anxious (65.0%), experienced more anorexia (53.6%), resurgence of traumatic war memories (40.2%), and were more often disoriented (75.7%). The suffering of relatives did not vary between nursing homes with and without COVID-19 cases. The nursing staff was heavily impacted emotionally and was in need of psychological support particularly when working in nursing homes in a low COVID-19 spread zone with COVID-19 cases (41.8 vs. 34.6%).
Conclusion and implications
Primary prevention must be implemented to limit the psychological consequences in the event of a new crisis and to prevent the risk of psychological decompensation of residents and teams in nursing homes.
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