Staff Opinions on the Most Positive and Negative Changes in Mental Health Services During the 2 Years of the Pandemic Emergency in Italy

Abstract

AbstractThis mixed-methods study investigated healthcare staff members’ opinions on the most positive and negative changes in mental health services (MHSs) during the 2-year COVID-19 pandemic emergency in Italy, and whether those changes differed by professional role and type of service. At the end of the national health emergency (March–April 2022), staff members from 17 MHSs completed the MHS Transformations Questionnaire, which includes a quantitative section with 30 multiple-choice items addressing positive changes and a qualitative section with two open-ended items on the most positive and negative changes. The 714 participants who responded to at least one open-ended item in the qualitative section formed the sample. Qualitative responses were categorised according to the textual content of the response and the themes of the quantitative section. Flexibility and Ability to Reinvent the Service was the subscale with the highest mean score. The most positive and negative changes fell into the following categories: practices (49.1 and 39%), organisation (34.5 and 36.9%), teamwork values (45.0 and 34.5%), and relationships with users and their families (31.9 and 40.6%). The most positive changes differed by type of service (i.e. in the relationship with users and their families category) and by professional role (i.e. in the practices and relationship with users and their families categories), whereas the most negative changes differed by type of service (i.e. in the practices category). The results may elucidate the complex experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic in MHSs and reveal lessons to be considered in post-pandemic service planning.