Organizational response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with moral distress in community mental health teams in the UK: A qualitative study.

Wall, Abbie ORCID: 0000-0002-2812-6874, Burton, Leanne ORCID: 0000-0002-5870-4161 and Perkins, Elizabeth ORCID: 0000-0002-0213-8105 (2024) Organizational response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with moral distress in community mental health teams in the UK: A qualitative study. International journal of mental health nursing, 33 (2). pp. 378-387.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/inm.13243

Abstract

In March 2020, Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) rapidly spread across the globe impacting the mental health of the population and putting an overwhelming pressure on health services. Much has been written about the impact of the pandemic on health-care workers working in hospital settings but less attention has been paid to its effect on community mental health teams (CMHTs). This study is based on 21 remote interviews with community mental health professionals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using a thematic analysis whereby codes of similar meaning were grouped into main themes. Analysis identified three major contributors to moral distress; changes in the nature of contact with service users, changes to the place of work, and difficulties of balancing risks to the families of CMHT staff and service users. This study demonstrates that necessary organizational changes instituted to minimize the spread of COVID-19, required different ways of working which were not perceived to be in the best interests of service users or the families of CMHT staff. In order to comply with Government directives, CMHT staff were forced to behave in a way which did not match their moral values causing them to experience moral distress.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Humans, Morals, Mental Health, Pandemics, United Kingdom, COVID-19
Divisions:	Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2023 15:55
Last Modified:	13 Apr 2024 01:52
DOI:	10.1111/inm.13243
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13243
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3173839