Using Caring Contacts to Reduce Psychiatric Morbidity Following Hospitalization During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Status

Completed

Conditions

Psychiatric Hospitalization

Treatments

Other: Caring Contacts

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT04456062

1804

Details and patient eligibility

About

Subjects will be recently discharged patients from Sunnybrook Inpatient Psychiatry Unit. Subjects will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either the Caring Contact intervention or usual care. 75 subjects will be enrolled in each arm. In additional to usual discharge-related care, subjects in the caring contact group will receive brief emails that convey a message of hope and provide resources. These emails will be sent on days 4, 21, and 56 post-discharge. The specific content of these emails will be pre-determined varying slightly by time point. In contrast, the control group will only receive usual discharge-related care, including discharge planning and also a sheet of resources normally provided to patients. A widely used and validated measure will be employed to assess depression and anxiety symptoms. The 25-item self-report Hopkins Symptom Checklist will be emailed to all subjects at baseline, day 4, 21, and 56 post-discharge, along with the Caring Contact communication. It is hypothesized that there will be a significantly greater reduction in mental health symptoms among patients receiving Caring Contacts compared to those who receive usual care.

Enrollment

102 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Provision of written informed consent
Inpatient status in Sunnybrook Inpatient Psychiatry Unit at time of recruitment
Have an email or mailing address
Ability to read and understand English
The ability to understand and comply with the requirements of the study and capable of providing informed consent

Exclusion criteria