TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - Remote crisis intervention and suicide risk management in COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers
JO  - Frontiers in psychology
A1  - Robles, Rebeca
A1  - Infante, Sara
A1  - Feria, Miriam
A1  - Arango, Ivan
A1  - Tirado, Elsa
A1  - Rodríguez-Delgado, Andrés
A1  - Miranda, Edgar
A1  - Fresán, Ana
A1  - Becerra, Claudia
A1  - Escamilla, Raul
A1  - Madrigal de León, Eduardo Angel
SP  - e1253179
EP  - e1253179
VL  - 14
IS  - 
N2  - INTRODUCTION: Despite the propagation of virtual mental health services for vulnerable groups during COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation and evaluation of remote evidence-based practices (EBP) to manage them in low- and middle-income countries remains scarce. In the current study, we describe and evaluate the implementation process and clinical impact of brief, remote, manualized EBP for crisis intervention and suicide risk management among healthcare workers attending patients with COVID-19 (COVID-19-HCWs) in Mexico. <br><br>METHODS: The implementation process comprised community engagement of volunteer mental health specialists, creation of new clinical teams with different disciplines and skills, intervention systematization through manuals and education through 4-h remote training as main strategies. Mexican COVID-19-HCWs who had used a free 24-h helpline rated their pre- and post-intervention emotional distress. Therapists recorded patients' pre-intervention diagnosis, severity, and suicide risk, the techniques used in each case, and their post-treatment perception of COVID-19-HCWs' improvement at the end of the intervention. <br><br>RESULTS: All techniques included in the intervention manual were employed at least in one case (n = 51). At the beginning of the intervention, 65.9% of the COVID-19-HCWs were considered moderately ill or worse according to Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) scores, whereas at the end, 79.4% of them were perceived as much or very much improved according to CGI-Improvement scores (CGI-I), and their emotional distress had been significantly reduced (p < 0.001). <br><br>DISCUSSION: This prospective study provides evidence that implementation of remote EBP is feasible and useful to reduce emotional distress and suicide risk among COVID-19-HCWs from a middle-income country. However, this study was limited by lack of a control group, improvement ratings provided by therapists and non-anonymous satisfaction ratings.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1664-1078
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1253179
ID  - ref1
ER  -