Influences on the physical and mental health of people with serious mental ill-health during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview study
Newbronner, E., Walker, L. 
ORCID: 0000-0003-2459-7860, Wadman, R. , Crosland, S., Johnston, G., Heron, P., Spanakis, P., Gilbody, S. & Peckham, E. (2022).
Influences on the physical and mental health of people with serious mental ill-health during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview study.
International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 17(1),
article number 2122135.
doi: 10.1080/17482631.2022.2122135
Abstract
Purpose
People with severe mental ill-health (SMI) experience profound health inequalities. The Optimizing Wellbeing in Self-isolation study (OWLS) explored the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on people with SMI, including how and why their physical and mental health may have changed during the pandemic.
Methods
The OLWS study comprised two surveys and two nested qualitative studies. Of 367 people recruited to the study, 235 expressed interest in taking part in a qualitative interview. In the first qualitative study eighteen interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of participants.
Results
We identified six factors which influenced peoples’ health, positively and negatively: Staying Physically Active; Maintaining a Balanced and Healthy Diet; Work or Not Working; Daily Routine and Good Sleep; Staying Connected to Family, Friends and the Local Community; and Habits, Addictions and Coping with Anxiety Created by the Pandemic.
Conclusions
Different aspects of lifestyle are highly interconnected. For people with SMI, loss of routine and good sleep, poor diet and lack of exercise can compound each other, leading to a decline in physical and mental health. If people are supported to understand what helps them stay well, they can establish their own frameworks to draw on during difficult times.
| Publication Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Publisher Keywords: | Severe mental ill-health (SMI), mental health, physical health, COVID-19 pandemic, qualitative research, interview study |
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry |
| Departments: | School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Nursing |
| SWORD Depositor: |
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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