Psychotherapists' Reports regarding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Their Patients: A Cross-National Descriptive Study Based on the Social-Ecological Model (SEM)

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 19; no. 11; p. 6825
• Main Authors: Schaffler, Yvonne, Kuska, Martin, Barke, Antonia, Doering, Bettina K, Gossmann, Katharina, Meier, Zdenek, Kascakova, Natalia, Tavel, Peter, Humer, Elke, Pieh, Christoph, Stippl, Peter, Schimböck, Wolfgang, Haid, Barbara, Probst, Thomas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 02.06.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Anxiety; Changing environments; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease transmission; Environmental conditions; Health care facilities; Health services; Infections; Medical research; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Mental health care; Pandemics; Psychotherapy; Public health; Public policy; Qualitative analysis; Qualitative research; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Stress; Therapists; Viruses; United Kingdom > UK; COVID-19; adaptive responses; mental health; psychotherapy; maladaptive responses; pandemic; stressors; social environment
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19116825

The COVID-19 outbreak has raised questions about how vulnerable groups experience the pandemic. Research that focuses on the view of individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions is still limited, and so are cross-country comparative surveys. We gathered our sample of qualitative data during the first lockdown after governmental measures against the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus came into force in Austria, Czechia, Germany, and Slovakia. A total of = 1690 psychotherapists from four middle European countries answered the question of how the COVID-19 pandemic was addressed in sessions by their patients during the early stage of unprecedented public health conditions. We employed a descriptive qualitative methodology to determine themes following levels of the social-ecological model (SEM) regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic affected patients. At the public policy level, stressful environmental conditions concerned the governmental mitigation efforts. At the level of community/society, reported key themes were employment, restricted access to educational and health facilities, socioeconomic consequences, and the pandemic itself. Key themes at the interpersonal level regarded forced proximity, the possibility of infection of loved ones, childcare, and homeschooling. Key themes at the individual level were the possibility of contracting COVID-19, having to stay at home/isolation, and a changing environment. Within the SEM framework, adaptive and maladaptive responses to these stressors were reported, with more similarities than differences between the countries. A quantification of word stems showed that the maladaptive reactions predominated.