A Rapid Realist Review of Effective Mental Health Interventions for Individuals with Chronic Physical Health Conditions during the COVID-19 Pandemic Using a Systems-Level Mental Health Promotion Framework

Lorna Stabler, Maura MacPhee, Benjamin Collins, Simon Carroll, Karen Davison, Vidhi Thakkar, Esme Fuller-Thomson, Shen (Lamson) Lin and Brandon Hey
Additional contact information
Lorna Stabler: School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3NN, UK
Maura MacPhee: School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 2B5, Canada
Benjamin Collins: Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, 750 Bannatyne Ave, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0W2, Canada
Simon Carroll: Department of Sociology, Cornett Building, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3P5, Canada
Karen Davison: Health Science Program, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 12666 72 Ave, Surrey, BC V3W 2M8, Canada
Vidhi Thakkar: Health Science Program, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 12666 72 Ave, Surrey, BC V3W 2M8, Canada
Esme Fuller-Thomson: Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1V4, Canada
Shen (Lamson) Lin: Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1V4, Canada
Brandon Hey: Mental Health Commission of Canada, 350 Albert Street, Suite 1210, Ottawa, ON K1R 1A4, Canada

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 23, 1-15

Abstract: The 2020 global outbreak of COVID-19 exposed and heightened threats to mental health across societies. Research has indicated that individuals with chronic physical health conditions are at high risk for suffering from severe COVID-19 illness and from the adverse consequences of public health responses to COVID-19, such as social isolation. This paper reports on the findings of a rapid realist review conducted alongside a scoping review to explore contextual factors and underlying mechanisms or drivers associated with effective mental health interventions within and across macro–meso–micro systems levels for individuals with chronic physical health conditions. This rapid realist review extracted 14 qualified studies across 11 countries and identified four key mechanisms from COVID-19 literature—trust, social connectedness, accountability, and resilience. These mechanisms are discussed in relation to contextual factors and outcomes reported in the COVID literature. Realist reviews include iterative searches to refine their program theories and context–mechanism–outcome explanations. A purposive search of pre-COVID realist reviews on the study topic was undertaken, looking for evidence of the robustness of these mechanisms. There were differences in some of the pre-COVID mechanisms due to contextual factors. Importantly, an additional mechanism—power-sharing—was highlighted in the pre-COVID literature, but absent in the COVID literature. Pre-existing realist reviews were used to identify potential substantive theories and models associated with key mechanisms. Based on the overall findings, implications are provided for mental health promotion policy, practice, and research.

Keywords: rapid realist review; mental health interventions; chronic physical health conditions; COVID-19; mental health promotion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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