ONLINE-BASED PSYCHIATRIC ASSISTANCE IN REDUCING ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN COVID-19 PATIENTS TREATED IN THE ISOLATION ROOM

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has reached dreadful consequences in many aspects including physical health, economy, social, as well as mental health. Information regarding the physical effects of COVID-19, virus transmission, and its mitigations has been well publicized, yet there still has been very little concern expressed over the effects on one's mental health and its management strategies. The goal of this study was to elaborate whether an online-based psychiatric assistance is effective in reducing the psychological distress level of COVID-19 patients treated in the isolation room. Data was obtained from COVID-19 patients who have psychological distress symptoms treated in isolation wards of Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo National General Hospital, Indonesia in July – October 2020. Questionnaires used in this study were Self Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). Out of 41 patients, 38 agreed to become respondents but only 31 respondents completed all protocols of this study. Majority of them are javanese (67.7%), female (64.5%) and muslim (87%). Before intervention, 38.7% and 54.8% of patients had moderate and mild depression, 12.9% and 77.4% of patients had moderate and mild anxiety. After 5 sessions of online-based psychiatric assistance during a 2 weeks period, most participants showed no or minimal depression (96.8%) and no or minimal anxiety (87.1%). The HAM-A and HAM-D score of the participants showed significant decrease with p value <0.05 (p value = 0.00). As the pandemic continues, mental health measures including psychiatric assistance to those treated in isolation rooms need to be considered as one of the mandatory protocols in order to maintain patients’ mental well-being during their treatment.