Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh (Krishnamurti); Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia (Agha, Dichter); Women's Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, and Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston (Iverson); Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center for Veteran Suicide Prevention, VA, Denver (Monteith); School of Social Work, Temple University, Philadelphia (Dichter).
Psychiatr Serv. 2023 Feb 1;74(2):142-147. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.202200044. Epub 2022 Sep 6.
The mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely felt among already vulnerable populations, such as U.S. military veterans, including a heightened risk for depression and suicidal ideation. Support hotlines such as the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) took a central role in addressing various concerns from callers in distress; research has yet to examine the concerns of veterans who used the VCL during the early months of the pandemic.
A mixed-methods analysis of characteristics of veteran outreach to the VCL during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was conducted on 342,248 calls during April-December 2020; 3.8% (N=12,869) of calls were coded as related to COVID-19. Quantitative examination was conducted regarding COVID-19-related reasons for contact, suicide risk screens, and caller concerns; 360 unique calls with synopsis notes that included a COVID-19 flag were qualitatively analyzed.
Quantitative analysis of the calls with a COVID-19 flag revealed mental health concerns, loneliness, and suicidal thoughts as top reasons veterans contacted the VCL during the pandemic. Qualitative analysis identified specific economic and mental health concerns, including negative impacts on income and housing, increased feelings of depression or anxiety, and pandemic-specific concerns such as testing and vaccine availability. Disrupted access to resources for coping, including support groups or gyms, had negative perceived impacts and sometimes exacerbated preexisting problems such as substance abuse or depression.
These findings emphasize the role of VCL as providing general support to veterans experiencing loneliness and supplying assistance in coping with pandemic-related distress.
新冠疫情对包括美国退伍军人在内的弱势群体的心理健康产生了广泛影响，使他们面临更高的抑郁和自杀意念风险。支持热线，如退伍军人危机热线（Veterans Crisis Line，VCL），在解决处于困境中的来电者的各种问题方面发挥了核心作用；但研究尚未探讨在疫情早期使用 VCL 的退伍军人的关注点。
对美国新冠疫情第一年（2020 年 4 月至 12 月）期间，VCL 接到的退伍军人来电进行了一项混合方法分析，共分析了 342248 个来电；其中 3.8%（N=12869）与新冠疫情有关。对与新冠疫情相关的联系原因、自杀风险筛查和来电者关注点进行了定量检查；对 360 个带有新冠疫情标志的摘要记录的独特来电进行了定性分析。
对带有新冠疫情标志的来电进行定量分析显示，心理健康问题、孤独感和自杀念头是退伍军人在疫情期间联系 VCL 的主要原因。定性分析确定了具体的经济和心理健康问题，包括收入和住房的负面影响、抑郁或焦虑感增加，以及与疫情相关的特定问题，如检测和疫苗供应。获取应对资源（包括支持小组或健身房）受到干扰，对他们产生了负面影响，有时还加剧了他们以前存在的问题，如药物滥用或抑郁。
这些发现强调了 VCL 作为为孤独的退伍军人提供一般支持以及帮助他们应对与疫情相关的困扰的作用。
