Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed mental health services and systems, causing delays in service for people in need and disrupting treatment access. At the same time, a growing number of people, including health care workers and other essential workers, reported disproportionate rates of anxiety and stress, and were at high-risk for developing long-term mental health conditions. The Digital Mental Health Care for COVID-19 High-Risk Populations project worked to address these challenges by developing digital mental health care tools and resources, and disseminating them in partnership with the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYS OMH).
Over a two year period, the project developed seven digital mental health videos to address increased rates of anxiety and stress and encourage help-seeking behavior among essential and healthcare workers. The tools (videos and modules) were tested and refined to measure effectiveness through randomized controlled trials reaching 4,136 participants.
Although the research revealed that both healthcare and non-healthcare essential workers reported high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, the interventions succeeded in immediately significantly decreasing viewersʼ stigma toward their own mental health and increased their openness to seeking care.
The immediate impact of the interventions was heightened among certain marginalized groups (Black people, women) when viewers watched interventions with protagonists who shared these demographic characteristics, suggesting that the power of the intervention lies in viewer ability to identify and engage emotionally with the presenter and content. See summary report for further information on the project methodology, design and results.
Final videos were uploaded to the New York State Office of Mental Health website, making the tools accessible to audiences beyond the initial participant pool, as part of their on-going efforts to support mental health through crisis counseling and mental health resources to New Yorkers. By the end of the project (June 2023), the videos had received upwards of 100,000 views.
In Partnership With:
Team
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Doron Amsalem
Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric InstituteProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altDoron Amsalem, MD, is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and a Research Scientist at Columbia University in New York City. Dr. Amsalem developed programs for medical students and...
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Lisa B. Dixon
Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric InstituteProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altLisa Dixon, MD, MPH is the Edna L Edison Professor of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
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Sidney H. Hankerson
Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric InstituteFormer Project LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altSidney Hankerson, MD, MBA is Co-Director of the Columbia University Wellness Center, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Research Scientist...
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Roberto Lewis-Fernández
Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric InstituteProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altRoberto Lewis-Fernández is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, Director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence and the Hispanic Treatment...
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Yuval Neria, PhD
Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric InstituteProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altYuval Neria, PhD, is Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University, Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology, and Director of Trauma and PTSD at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI).
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Thomas E. Smith
Columbia University, New York State Office of Mental Health, New York State Psychiatric InstituteProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altThomas Smith oversees clinical and quality aspects of the New York State public mental health system with a focus on improving access to prevention, recovery and rehabilitation services...
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Melanie Wall
Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric InstituteProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altDr. Wall is a biostatistician and director of Mental Health Data Science at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She has worked extensively designing...
Go Deeper
Publications
Amsalem, D., Wall, M., Lazarov, A., Markowitz, J. C., Fisch, C. T., LeBeau, M., ... & Dixon, L. B. (2022). Destigmatising mental health treatment and increasing openness to seeking treatment: Randomised controlled trial of brief video interventions. BJPsych Open, 8(5), e169.
Amsalem, D., Wall, M., Lazarov, A., Markowitz, J. C., Fisch, C. T., LeBeau, M., ... & Neria, Y. (2023). Brief video intervention to increase treatment-seeking intention among US health care workers: A randomized controlled trial. Psychiatric Services, 74(2), 119-126.
Amsalem, D., Fisch, C. T., Wall, M., Choi, C. J., Lazarov, A., Markowitz, J. C., ... & Neria, Y. (2023). Anxiety and depression symptoms among young US essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatric Services, appi-ps.