The Contributions of a Mental Health Research Process Concomitant with the Covid-19 Crisis.

Abstract

This article takes stock of the research work carried out in Europe over the period 2020-2022 by a multidisciplinary consortium of specialists in psychiatry and mental health that brings together university research laboratories, psychiatric hospitals, universities, and training centers. Our work focuses on the difficulties encountered by care and psycho-social support professionals during the COVID-19 period. These difficulties are individual and organizational to ensure a service of accompaniment and follow-up of psychiatric users. What synthesis can we achieve of our successes, our failures, our limitations, and for which avenues of work for the future? After presenting the methodological protocol, we conduct a self-critical reflection of the achievements in 3 main axes of analysis: 1. Evolution of working conditions in a context of uncertainty, 2. Organizational dimensions and hindered care, 3. Digital technologies. From these results emerges a set of controversies and ethical questions relating to the legitimacy of remote care, confidentiality and protection of personal data, and equity in access to care. It appears that the professional practices deployed during the COVID-19 health crisis question the way in which the organization of care and social support integrate the possibilities offered by digital applications. They are about promoting the autonomy and empowerment of mental health service users and professionals. From this perspective, the extension of this work develops a forward-looking approach included in Community digitization policies for new European projects. It appears necessary to carry out multidisciplinary in-depth work, by 2030 on hospital psychiatry and "outside the walls", the care pathway of the user, social support, digitalization, data management, and the training of professionals in technological changes.