TY - JOUR
KW - Adult
KW - COVID-19/epidemiology/prevention & control/psychology
KW - Delivery of Health Care, Integrated/organization & administration
KW - Female
KW - Focus Groups
KW - Health Services Needs and Demand
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Mental Health/trends
KW - Mental Health Services/standards/supply & distribution
KW - Ontario/epidemiology
KW - Patient Care Team/organization & administration
KW - Practice Patterns, Physicians'/trends
KW - Primary Health Care/methods/trends
KW - Quality Improvement/organization & administration
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - Telemedicine/methods/statistics & numerical data
KW - COVID-19
KW - mental health care
KW - Pandemic
KW - primary care
KW - qualitative
AU - R. Ashcroft
AU - C. Donnelly
AU - M. Dancey
AU - S. Gill
AU - S. Lam
AU - T. Kourgiantakis
AU - K. Adamson
AU - D. Verrilli
AU - L. Dolovich
AU - A. Kirvan
AU - K. Mehta
AU - D. Sur
AU - J. B. Brown
A1 - 
AB - BACKGROUND: Integrated primary care teams are ideally positioned to support the mental health care needs arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding how COVID-19 has affected mental health care delivery within primary care settings will be critical to inform future policy and practice decisions during the later phases of the pandemic and beyond. The objective of our study was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary care teams' delivery of mental health care. METHODS: A qualitative study using focus groups conducted with primary care teams in Ontario, Canada. Focus group data was analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: We conducted 11 focus groups with 10 primary care teams and a total of 48 participants. With respect to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health care in primary care teams, we identified three key themes: i) the high demand for mental health care, ii) the rapid transformation to virtual care, and iii) the impact on providers. CONCLUSIONS: From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, primary care quickly responded to the rising mental health care demands of their patients. Despite the numerous challenges they faced with the rapid transition to virtual care, primary care teams have persevered. It is essential that policy and decision-makers take note of the toll that these demands have placed on providers. There is an immediate need to enhance primary care's capacity for mental health care for the duration of the pandemic and beyond.
AD - Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V4, Canada. rachelle.ashcroft@utoronto.ca.; Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.; Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.; Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada.; Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V4, Canada.; Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V4, Canada.; Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V4, Canada.; Village Family Health Team, Toronto, ON, Canada.; Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.; Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V4, Canada.; Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada.; Ontario Association of Social Workers, Toronto, ON, Canada.; Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
BT - BMC family practice
C5 - Education & Workforce; HIT & Telehealth
CP - 1
DO - 10.1186/s12875-021-01496-8
IS - 1
JF - BMC family practice
LA - eng
M1 - Journal Article
N2 - BACKGROUND: Integrated primary care teams are ideally positioned to support the mental health care needs arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding how COVID-19 has affected mental health care delivery within primary care settings will be critical to inform future policy and practice decisions during the later phases of the pandemic and beyond. The objective of our study was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary care teams' delivery of mental health care. METHODS: A qualitative study using focus groups conducted with primary care teams in Ontario, Canada. Focus group data was analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: We conducted 11 focus groups with 10 primary care teams and a total of 48 participants. With respect to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health care in primary care teams, we identified three key themes: i) the high demand for mental health care, ii) the rapid transformation to virtual care, and iii) the impact on providers. CONCLUSIONS: From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, primary care quickly responded to the rising mental health care demands of their patients. Despite the numerous challenges they faced with the rapid transition to virtual care, primary care teams have persevered. It is essential that policy and decision-makers take note of the toll that these demands have placed on providers. There is an immediate need to enhance primary care's capacity for mental health care for the duration of the pandemic and beyond.
PY - 2021
SN - 1471-2296; 1471-2296
SP - 143
T1 - Primary care teams' experiences of delivering mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study
T2 - BMC family practice
TI - Primary care teams' experiences of delivering mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study
U1 - Education & Workforce; HIT & Telehealth
U2 - 34210284
U3 - 10.1186/s12875-021-01496-8
VL - 22
VO - 1471-2296; 1471-2296
Y1 - 2021
Y2 - Jul 1
ER -