“About Navigating Chaos”: Latin American and Caribbean Mental Health Workers’ Personal Impact Due to SARS-CoV-2 in the First Hundred Days

Objectives: The personal impact of COVID-19 on mental health care workers (MHWs) has received scarce attention despite their work addressing the emotional wellbeing of those affected by the pandemic. This study aims to analyze Latin American and Caribbean’s MHWs’ subjective impact in connection to working during the initial times of the pandemic. Methods: One hundred and fifty-five persons (n = 155) from seventeen countries were contacted in May–June 2020 through a snowball approach. Complementary methodological strategies of analysis used for data triangulation included content analysis, thematic analysis, and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: Participants reported feelings of fear, anxiety, anguish, and fatigue. Milder negative impacts (e.g., uncertainty, concern), and complex feelings (e.g., ambivalence) were also frequent. One third of participants acknowledged their capacity to learn from this situation and/or experience satisfaction. Conclusion: Mental health of MHWs in Latin America and the Caribbean were under severe strain and the ongoing mental health reforms at risk during the pandemic’s beginning. More research and additional care may be needed to offer support to those involved in caring for the wellbeing of others.Fil: Agrest, Martin. Proyecto Suma: Asistencia y Rehabilitación En Salud Men; ArgentinaFil: Rosales, Melina Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Fernández, Marina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Kankan, Tanvi. Columbia University; Estados UnidosFil: Matkovich, Andrés. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Velzi Díaz, Alberto. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Ardila Gómez, Sara Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; Argentin

COVID-19 impact on the provision of psychosocial rehabilitation services in Latin America and the Caribbean

Health care services have been deeply affected worldwide by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, and despite its importance to psychiatric reforms, very little has been written on actual responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in community psychiatry and psychosocial rehabilitation settings. Fifty-two mental health professionals from thirteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean were interviewed in May and June 2020 and shared their opinions on the state of psychosocial rehabilitation services and programs during the first one-hundred days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Simple quantitative measures were added to a thematic analysis of responses. The results indicated that the disruption of group activities deeply affected psychosocial rehabilitation services, non-core activities (e.g., food and medication supply) became the most relevant aspects of these programs, shifting to remote mode proved to be a significant hurdle for many psychosocial rehabilitation service users, and long-term effect on rehabilitation services is expected by almost 90% of interviewees.Fil: Agrest, Martín. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Kankan, Tanvi. Columbia University; Estados UnidosFil: Fernández, Marina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Rosales, Melina Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Matkovich, Andrés. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Velzi Díaz, Alberto. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Ardila Gómez, Sara Elena. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

The mental health users’ movement in Argentina from the perspective of Latin American Collective Health

The mental health users’ movement is a worldwide phenomenon that seeks to resist disempowerment and marginalisation of people living with mental illness. The Latin American Collective Health movement sees the mental health users’ movement as an opportunity for power redistribution and for autonomous participation. The present paper aims to analyze the users’ movement in Argentina from a Collective Health perspective, by tracing the history of users’ movement in the Country. A heterogeneous research team used a qualitative approach to study mental health users’ associations in Argentina. The local impact of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the regulations of Argentina’s National Mental Health Law are taken as fundamental milestones. A strong tradition of social activism in Argentina ensured that the mental health care reforms included users’ involvement. However, the resulting growth of users’ associations after 2006, mainly to promote their participation through institutional channels, has not been followed by a more radical power distribution. Associations dedicated to the self-advocacy include a combination of actors with different motives. Despite the need for users to form alliances with other actors to gain ground, professional power struggles and the historical disempowerment of ‘patients’ stand as obstacles for users’ autonomous participation