Experiences of young people living with mental health difficulties in the context of COVID-19 and the role of integrated social care and mental health services in providing support

Keane, Jennifer (2022) Experiences of young people living with mental health difficulties in the context of COVID-19 and the role of integrated social care and mental health services in providing support. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Background: Youth is a time associated with significant change and mental health difficulties are most likely to be diagnosed between the ages of 16-25. This means there is a need to ensure that young people, particularly those with complex or social care needs, have access to the right support. COVID-19 has resulted in significant upheaval for young people and those with pre-existing mental health difficulties may have been impacted differently than the general population.

Methods: A systematic review was undertaken to identify the evidence of integrated mental health and social care’s ability to improve clinical effectiveness, cost efficiency and service user experience. A qualitative study was undertaken to understand more about the experiences of young people with pre-existing mental health conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results: The review identified twelve studies which met the inclusion criteria including intervention evaluations, qualitative studies and a discreet choice experiment survey. Eleven studies took place outside of the UK. The results found evidence to support that integrated mental health and social care improves service user experience, limited evidence to support clinical effectiveness and no evaluation of cost efficiency. The empirical paper found that in young people with pre-existing mental health difficulties, the pandemic had impacted their mental health, and their responses to the pandemic had been affected by their mental health. Though this had made coping more difficult, the sample were also able to use their experiences of managing their mental health to cope with the pandemic, and for some participants the pandemic had supported them to make meaningful changes

Conclusions: The review identified that outside of improving service-user experience, evidence is currently lacking to support integrated mental health and social care as improving support for young people. Services in this area are continuing to change following the impact of COVID-19 and the development of integrated services across the NHS which may allow for further research to take place. The qualitative study suggests that young people could be well supported using a strengths-based model, facilitating developing coping skills and building on positive changes.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	09 Nov 2022 09:26
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2022 09:26
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/89723
DOI:

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