Innovative Behavioral Health Interventions for Healthcare Professionals Amidst COVID-19: A Scoping Review

Overview: This paper will introduce participants to the outcomes of a scoping review of innovative behavioral health services developed for healthcare professionals (HCP) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Authors will describe several new or innovative interventions as well as discuss the scoping review methodology.Proposal text: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, HCP around the world have faced immense stress and pressure, resulting in compromised mental health across vast swaths of the workforce (Braquehais, et al. 2020). HCP have continued to be at the forefront of immediate and ongoing medical interventions focused on public health. The overwhelmingly negative impacts of the pandemic have created an overtaxed medical system in which HCP experience a variety of workplace environmental risks resulting in a high degree of fear, acute stress, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, overdeveloped sense of responsibility, sense of rejection, and vicarious traumatization (Braquehais, et al. 2020 & Rolling, et al. 2021). These ongoing impacts are seen in the deteriorating mental health of the HCP population and the HCP workforce in general.

Methodology

In contrast to a systematic review, this scoping review offers an expedient approach to reviewing a large body of literature, especially in new and developing areas. This scoping review also aids in identifying gaps in knowledge, allowing for the identification of future research needs (Munn, et al. 2018).

For this scoping review, a clear topic was developed focusing on new or adapted behavioral health interventions designed and applied as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic with the purpose of identifying knowledge gaps, investigating the body of literature, and clarifying concepts. The inclusion of literature for the review consisted of peer reviewed publications highlighting original research, published in English, and described a behavioral health intervention specifically designed to address the needs of HCP’s as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings

This scoping review search originally identified 3,885 peer reviewed articles of which 11 were identified as describing behavioral health interventions for health care workers to address their needs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from this scoping review identified innovative prevention models, new or enhanced uses of technology, as well as the application of existing behavioral health interventions modified to meet the needs of this population.

Up to 3 learning objectives:
1. Will be able to describe new or adapted behavioral health interventions designed specifically for HCP as a result of COVID-19.
2. Will identify strategies to minimize negative behavioral health impacts through new innovations.
3. Will develop knowledge around methods used in scoping reviews.