Minimizing psychological distress and promoting resilience during quarantine: Piloting the town hall model.

Abstract

Quarantine and isolation are important public health strategies for containing highly hazardous communicable disease outbreaks, particularly when vaccines and effective treatments are unavailable. Despite their effectiveness in disease containment, both quarantine and isolation, whether home- or facility-based, can lead to negative psychological outcomes in the short and long term. This article describes a novel, evidence-informed pilot intervention to prevent psychological deterioration during facility-based quarantine and isolation. Designed for the National Quarantine Unit during the repatriation of 15 American passengers exposed to COVID-19 on a cruise ship, the model incorporates findings from several areas of research, including factors that increase stress during quarantine and isolation, resources and competencies thought to contribute to individual resilience, and the role of social support in buffering stress. The high participation rate, in connection with positive feedback from guests, suggests that the pilot intervention holds promise for mitigating the potentially damaging psychological effects of facility-based quarantine and isolation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Public Significance Statement -This case study describes a novel, pilot intervention to prevent psychological deterioration in a group undergoing facility-based quarantine after exposure to COVID-19. The intervention addressed participants' basic needs and comfort, provided them with timely information about the disease, and introduced strategies believed to enhance resilience. Qualitative feedback suggests the model holds promise for mitigating the potentially negative psychological consequences of quarantine, though controlled research is necessary to test this hypothesis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)