[The first lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic from the psychiatric patients' perspective: an ambulatory care client experience survey].

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) required the declaration of a state of emergency in Hungary from 11 March 2020 to 18 June 2020. These governmental actions led to changes in everyday life, implementation of new rules, and reduced access to healthcare. Hospital beds were reserved for emergency use, face-to-face ambulatory care was mainly replaced by telemedicine. In our study we assessed opinion of the patients in two outpatient psychiatric care units in Budapest regarding the state of emergency.

Methods: We enrolled 438 patients in the survey (305 women and 133 men, mean age: 51.9±16.2 years). The patients completed a short questionnaire on a voluntary and anonymous basis following verbal informed consent. The questionnaire was comprised of 10 items and a 12-item "Problem Evaluation Scale" (fear, isolation and healthcare subscales). The comparison of groups was done using general linear models (GLM), pairwise comparison was performed using Tukey's test for post hoc analysis. The data set was analyzed with SPSS software, version 24.0.

Results: Up to 34% of enrolled patients believed that their condition worsened during the state of emergency, but 12% of these patients thought that this worsening was not related to the state of emergency. Twice as many patients (12.8%) were concerned about their financial situation than about their health status (6.1%). Loneliness and the implementation of specific regulations didn't cause relevant distress in almost half of the patients, isolation was the most frequently (55.2%) reported difficulty. The worsening of health status was reported more frequently (p=0.001) by the patients younger than 50 years, the sensation of fear was stronger (p=0.045), and they reported more serious adaptation difficulties (p=0.003) than subjects older than 50 years. Isolation caused significantly (p=0.003) more serious distress among women. The abundance of pandemic-related information caused more distress in the case of patients treated for anxiety than participants treated for psychotic disorders (p=0.024). Patients suffering from affective disorders perceived more pronounced feelings of vulnerability compared to patients treated for psychotic disorders (p=0.004).

Conclusion: Approximately half of the enrolled psychiatric patients was able to adapt to this situation without major difficulties, the other half of this sample was more or less distressed by these circumstances. Unfortunately, depletion of emotional, psychological, social and material resources can be expected during the next stage of the pandemic. As a result, we can expect further worsening of the above presented aspects.