The mental wellbeing of patients recovering from COVID-19 is low enough, on average, to require assessment for depression, according to new feedback from users of the Covid Virtual Ward created by digital therapeutics provider, my mhealth.
Measured against the WHO-5 wellbeing scale created by the World Health Organisation (WHO), patients with COVID-19 using the my mhealth Covid Virtual Ward reported, on average, significantly lower feelings of wellbeing.
The average score was in the WHO’s ‘poor’ wellbeing category – low enough to suggest that COVID has had a significant impact on wellbeing and that the respondents may benefit from further support and assessment.
With the research being the latest indication of the deep and long-lasting impact from the pandemic on physical and mental health; a significant new, and free, initiative to support wellbeing is being launched across the UK.
Digital mental health therapy offers highly-effective support and guidance at scale, and at a pace determined by the individual
Designed by psychologists and wellbeing practitioners, the Space from Covid digital therapy initiative – under the Nurture your Normal campaign - is being offered, free, by SilverCloud Health, a leading digital mental health provider which works with 80% of NHS mental health trusts in England.
The aim is to offer a key aid to the UK’s recovery that acknowledges the ‘new normal’, which now exists for everyone due to the global pandemic.
The Space from Covid programme offers online modules, based on cognitive behavioural therapy, to address the most-common mental health challenges experienced in lockdown.
It provides coping strategies to address issues, including trouble sleeping, coping with stress, financial worries, and the experience of grief and loss. To access the programme go to: https://spacefromcovid.com/
Usually, SilverCloud Health’s online therapy is accessible after a GP or other NHS referral. But, with the huge demand for mental health support across the UK during the pandemic, and overwhelmed NHS services’ the Space from Covid wellbeing support is being made freely available to anyone aged over 18.
Dr Lloyd Humphreys, a clinical psychologist and head of Europe at SilverCloud Health, said: “We have seen an extreme rise in the last 12 months in demand for mental health support across the UK, and in relation to a range of common mental challenges that many people are encountering and have never before experienced.
We are in a new era of acknowledging that society’s recovery will take time to nurture and Space from Covid has been designed to provide people with simple, accessible help based on cognitive behavioural therapy as they adjust to their ‘new normal’
“We need to reach people quicker and earlier to help stop the descent from poor wellbeing into mental health.
“This new data provided by my mhealth shows that COVID-19 may cause a legacy of depression – a further indication of how far-reaching the impact is on mental, and physical, health.
“We are in a new era of acknowledging that society’s recovery will take time to nurture and Space from Covid has been designed to provide people with simple, accessible help based on cognitive behavioural therapy as they adjust to their ‘new normal’.”
The data relating to feelings of wellbeing by individuals who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 was collected in a detailed questionnaire sent to patient users of the my mhealth Covid Virtual Ward and was collated as part of a partnership with SilverCloud Health.
These patients, whose key health indicators had been monitored remotely at home on a ‘virtual ward’ or in a care home for COVID-19, were asked to evaluate their feelings of wellbeing on the globally-recognised WHO-5 scale.
The average score among the 65 respondents was 50.45, just below the 52 level, which shows that COVID has had a significant effect on their wellbeing and that they may benefit from further assessment and support.
The baseline for ‘good’ wellbeing in the WHO-5 score is 70.
Further results showed that 60% of patients would welcome free access to digital tools to supporting wellbeing, this 60% also represented those with the lower wellbeing scores.
Dr Simon Bourne, chief executive at my mhealth, said: “The impact that physical health problems can have on mental health and wellbeing can often go unrecognised.
“This feedback from users of our Covid Virtual Ward demonstrates the need for programmes like Space from Covid to be made widely available and promoted to all individuals who have been affected by this pandemic.”
He added: “This is just the beginning. We are very much looking forward to continuing a wider partnership with SilverCloud to treat patients with long-term conditions.”
The Space from Covid programme has the support of leading health organisations including Practitioner Health, the NHS’s free confidential advice service for NHS staff in England suffering mental health and addiction difficulties.
It is also backed by RCNi, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Royal College of Nursing.
Dame Clare Gerada, a practising GP, former chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and medical director of Practitioner Health, said: “We are in the midst of an intense period of demand for help for those encountering difficulties with their mental health as a result of the pandemic, and the challenges and restrictions it has brought.
We need to reach people quicker and earlier to help stop the descent from poor wellbeing into mental health
“This is being profoundly felt by individuals, as well as many health workers who are themselves suffering stress, anxiety and burnout.”
“Digital mental health therapy offers highly-effective support and guidance at scale, and at a pace determined by the individual.
Making Space from Covid available to everyone will play a substantial role in helping people manage their own personal recovery in the ‘new normal’.”
In initial assessment of use of the Space from Covid modules, there was a 95% satisfaction rate from 2,605 people surveyed, saying it helped them achieve their goals.
One of those who has benefited from the programme is Lee Wignall, 38, a graphics motion designer and editor of Slough, Berkshire, whose long-standing issues with low esteem and anxiety were exacerbated during lockdown.
He said: “The impact from COVID has had a huge effect on everyone’s mental health. Some people have had a horrendous time of it.
“At the outset of the lockdown I found my anxiety started to flare up. I had low moods and was irritable and wasn’t dealing with my emotions in the right way, causing me to shout and have outbursts. Someone locally called social services and I was referred to the SilverCloud programme.
“I have found it very helpful in getting me to manage my emotions, particularly the idea of putting your thoughts in a courtroom-type setting where you try to get a perspective on your behaviour and why you have acted the way you have, whether it is justified, what the external influences are, and how you can eliminate them.”
