Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Concurrent Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Post Box 104, 2381, Brumunddal, Norway.
Faculty of Health Studies, VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway.
BMC Psychiatry. 2022 Mar 14;22(1):179. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-03812-7.
The outbreak of COVID-19 with its severe social restrictions touched the daily life of most people. While everyday social life becomes difficult for citizens with economic and cultural capital, it becomes even worse for vulnerable groups such as persons with mental health and substance use disorders, who are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion. The aim of this study is to investigate how the first COVID-19 lockdown affected the everyday life and health of persons with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
This qualitative study reports data from 17 individual interviews and one focus group of five participants, all with a self-reported mental health and substance use disorder. Interviews were conducted based on a semi-structured interview guide in September and October 2020 in a medium-sized local authority in Norway. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. A reference group of people with varied knowledge and experiences of the phenomenon were involved in study design, recruitment, data generation and analysis.
The analysis identified four interrelated main themes, describing how the first lockdown affected the everyday life and health of persons suffering from a mental health and substance use disorder: (1) The COVID-19 outbreak as a perceived challenge, (2) A decline in mental health and well-being, (3) Increased substance use challenges, and (4) Diverse experiences with health and social services. The results show that people with a co-occurring disorder have challenges with digital tools and/or do not have the appropriate equipment. Further, participants were not concerned about becoming infected themselves, but infecting others.
Persons with a mental health and substance use disorder face major challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need to maintain continuous low-threshold services especially directed towards persons with co-occurring disorders during the pandemic. Furthermore, it is important to improve the digital skills of every service user or offer alternatives to digital consultations and meetings.
COVID-19 疫情爆发及其严重的社会限制措施触及了大多数人的日常生活。当经济和文化资本的公民的日常生活变得困难时，对于精神健康和物质使用障碍等弱势群体来说，情况甚至更糟，他们特别容易受到社会排斥。本研究的目的是调查第一次 COVID-19 封锁如何影响同时患有精神健康和物质使用障碍的人的日常生活和健康。
这项定性研究报告了来自 17 名个体访谈和一个由五名参与者组成的焦点小组的数据，所有参与者都自我报告患有精神健康和物质使用障碍。访谈是在 2020 年 9 月和 10 月在挪威一个中等规模的地方当局根据半结构化访谈指南进行的。使用主题分析对数据进行分析。一个具有不同知识和经验的参考小组参与了研究设计、招募、数据生成和分析。
分析确定了四个相互关联的主要主题，描述了第一次封锁如何影响患有精神健康和物质使用障碍的人的日常生活和健康：（1）COVID-19 爆发被视为挑战，（2）心理健康和幸福感下降，（3）物质使用挑战增加，（4）对健康和社会服务的不同体验。结果表明，患有共病障碍的人在数字工具方面存在挑战，或者没有适当的设备。此外，参与者并不担心自己感染，而是担心感染他人。
患有精神健康和物质使用障碍的人在 COVID-19 大流行期间面临重大挑战。在大流行期间，特别是需要维持针对共病障碍患者的持续低门槛服务。此外，提高每个服务用户的数字技能或提供数字咨询和会议的替代方案非常重要。
