IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i6p3097-d519032.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Community Health Workers as a Strategy to Tackle Psychosocial Suffering Due to Physical Distancing: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Author

Listed:
  • Dorien Vanden Bossche

    (Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

  • Susan Lagaert

    (Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

  • Sara Willems

    (Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

  • Peter Decat

    (Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many primary care professionals were overburdened and experienced difficulties reaching vulnerable patients and meeting the increased need for psychosocial support. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) tested whether a primary healthcare (PHC) based community health worker (CHW) intervention could tackle psychosocial suffering due to physical distancing measures in patients with limited social networks. Methods: CHWs provided 8 weeks of tailored psychosocial support to the intervention group. Control group patients received ‘care as usual’. The impact on feelings of emotional support, social isolation, social participation, anxiety and fear of COVID-19 were measured longitudinally using a face-to-face survey to determine their mean change from baseline. Self-rated change in psychosocial health at 8 weeks was determined. Results: We failed to find a significant effect of the intervention on the prespecified psychosocial health measures. However, the intervention did lead to significant improvement in self-rated change in psychosocial health. Conclusions: This study confirms partially the existing evidence on the effectiveness of CHW interventions as a strategy to address mental health in PHC in a COVID context. Further research is needed to elaborate the implementation of CHWs in PHC to reach vulnerable populations during and after health crises.

Suggested Citation

  • Dorien Vanden Bossche & Susan Lagaert & Sara Willems & Peter Decat, 2021. "Community Health Workers as a Strategy to Tackle Psychosocial Suffering Due to Physical Distancing: A Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:6:p:3097-:d:519032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3097/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3097/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pérez, L.M. & Martinez, J., 2008. "Community health workers: Social justice and policy advocates for community health and well-being," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(1), pages 11-14.
    2. Mock, J. & McPhee, S.J. & Nguyen, T. & Wong, C. & Doan, H. & Lai, K.Q. & Nguyen, K.H. & Nguyen, T.T. & Bui-Tong, N., 2007. "Effective lay health worker outreach and media-based education for promoting cervical cancer screening among Vietnamese American women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(9), pages 1693-1700.
    3. Debanjan Banerjee & Mayank Rai, 2020. "Social isolation in Covid-19: The impact of loneliness," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(6), pages 525-527, September.
    4. Balcazar, H. & Lee Rosenthal, E. & Nell Brownstein, J. & Rush, C.H. & Matos, S. & Hernandez, L., 2011. "Community health workers can be a public health force for change in the United States: Three actions for a new paradigm," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(12), pages 2199-2203.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dorien Vanden Bossche & Sara Willems & Peter Decat, 2022. "Understanding Trustful Relationships between Community Health Workers and Vulnerable Citizens during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Realist Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haribondhu Sarma & Ishrat Jabeen & Sharmin Khan Luies & Md Fakhar Uddin & Tahmeed Ahmed & Thomas J Bossert & Cathy Banwell, 2020. "Performance of volunteer community health workers in implementing home-fortification interventions in Bangladesh: A qualitative investigation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Daniela Huber & Johanna Freidl & Christina Pichler & Michael Bischof & Martin Kiem & Renate Weisböck-Erdheim & Gabriella Squarra & Vincenzo De Nigris & Stefan Resnyak & Marcel Neberich & Susanna Bordi, 2023. "Long-Term Effects of Mountain Hiking vs. Forest Therapy on Physical and Mental Health of Couples: A Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Becky Leshem & Gabriela Kashy-Rosenbaum & Miriam Schiff & Rami Benbenishty & Ruth Pat-Horenczyk, 2023. "Continuous Exposure to Terrorism during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model in the Israeli Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Michelle W. T. Cheng & Man-Lai Leung & Christina W. M. Yu & Kevin K. M. Yue & Elaine S. C. Liu & Samuel K. W. Chu, 2021. "Sustaining Healthy Staying Communities in University Residential Halls amid Unprecedented Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    5. Katarzyna Boratynska, 2021. "Determinants of Economic Fragility in Central and Eastern European Countries FsQCA Approach," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3B), pages 827-837.
    6. Leida Ruvina, 2021. "Science as Interdisciplinary Analysis of Temporary and Unstable Features, and Norbert Elias’ Relational Perspective of Fear, Violence and State," European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 8, May - Aug.
    7. Katarzyna Boratyńska, 2021. "A New Approach for Risk of Corporate Bankruptcy Assessment during the COVID-19 Pandemic," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Jiyun Kim & Yuna Paik & Seungmi Park, 2022. "Cancer Screening Program Delivered by Community Health Workers for Chinese Married Immigrant Women in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-9, May.
    9. Yiu Tung Suen & Randolph CH Chan & Eliz Miu Yin Wong, 2023. "Association between co-residence and loneliness during COVID-19 among sexual minority people in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(2), pages 483-492, March.
    10. Ka Ming Chow & Bernard M.H. Law & Marques S.N. Ng & Dorothy N.S. Chan & Winnie K.W. So & Cho Lee Wong & Carmen W.H. Chan, 2020. "A Review of Psychological Issues among Patients and Healthcare Staff during Two Major Coronavirus Disease Outbreaks in China: Contributory Factors and Management Strategies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Matylda Sierakowska & Halina Doroszkiewicz, 2022. "Psychosocial Determinants of Loneliness in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic—Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-15, September.
    12. Sung Man Bae, 2023. "The Association between Adverse Childhood and Adulthood Experiences, Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Depression among Young Adults in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(19), pages 1-11, October.
    13. Aracil-Jordá, Jorge & Clemente-Almendros, Jose-Antonio & Jiménez-Zarco, Ana-Isabel & González-González, Inés, 2023. "Improving the social performance of women-led microenterprises: The role of social media marketing actions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    14. Angel M. Dzhambov & Peter Lercher & Drozdstoy Stoyanov & Nadezhda Petrova & Stoyan Novakov & Donka D. Dimitrova, 2021. "University Students’ Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-21, March.
    15. Olivier Torrès & Alexandre Benzari & Christian Fisch & Jinia Mukerjee & Abdelaziz Swalhi & Roy Thurik, 2022. "Risk of burnout in French entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 crisis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 717-739, February.
    16. Kung, Claryn S.J. & Kunz, Johannes S. & Shields, Michael A., 2023. "COVID-19 lockdowns and changes in loneliness among young people in the U.K," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    17. Franca Spatafora & Paula M. Matos Fialho & Heide Busse & Stefanie M. Helmer & Hajo Zeeb & Christiane Stock & Claus Wendt & Claudia R. Pischke, 2022. "Fear of Infection and Depressive Symptoms among German University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-15, January.
    18. Maksim Belitski & Christina Guenther & Alexander S. Kritikos & Roy Thurik, 2022. "Economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurship and small businesses," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 593-609, February.
    19. Kung, Claryn S.J. & Pudney, Stephen E. & Shields, Michael A., 2022. "Economic gradients in loneliness, social isolation and social support: Evidence from the UK Biobank," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    20. Nava Ashraf & Oriana Bandiera & Edward Davenport & Scott S. Lee, 2020. "Losing Prosociality in the Quest for Talent? Sorting, Selection, and Productivity in the Delivery of Public Services," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(5), pages 1355-1394, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:6:p:3097-:d:519032. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.