Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 24;17(8):e0273579.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273579. eCollection 2022.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and functional outcomes in Veterans with psychosis or recent homelessness: A 15-month longitudinal study

Jonathan K Wynn  1   2 , Amanda McCleery  3 , Derek M Novacek  1   2 , Eric A Reavis  1   2 , Damla Senturk  2   4 , Catherine A Sugar  2   4 , Jack Tsai  5   6   7 , Michael F Green  1   2
Affiliations

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and functional outcomes in Veterans with psychosis or recent homelessness: A 15-month longitudinal study

Jonathan K Wynn et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented effects on mental health and community functioning. Negative effects related to disruption of individuals' social connections may have been more severe for those who had tenuous social connections prior to the pandemic. Veterans who have recently experienced homelessness (RHV) or have a psychotic disorder (PSY) are considered particularly vulnerable because many had poor social connections prior to the pandemic.

Methods: We conducted a 15-month longitudinal study between May 2020 -July 2021 assessing clinical (e.g., depression, anxiety) and community (e.g., social functioning, work functioning) outcomes. Eighty-one PSY, 76 RHV, and 74 Veteran controls (CTL) were interviewed over 5 assessment periods. We assessed changes in mental health and community functioning trajectories relative to pre-pandemic retrospective ratings and examined group differences in these trajectories.

Results: All groups had significantly increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and concerns with contamination at the onset of the pandemic. However, RHV and PSY showed faster returns to their baseline levels compared to CTL, who took nearly 15 months to return to baseline. With regards to functioning, both RHV and PSY, but not CTL, had significant improvements in family and social networks over time. Work functioning worsened over time only in PSY, and independent living increased over time in both RHV and PSY but not CTL.

Conclusions: These results reveal that vulnerable Veterans with access to VA mental health and case management services exhibited lower negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and community functioning than expected.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Results for the GAM analyses of clincial outcomes.
The smoothed curves represent the change over time in trajectories for controls (CTL; gray), recently housed Veterans (RHV; yellow), and Veterans with psychosis (PSY; blue). In all cases higher scores indicate higher symptoms. The panels show results for A) anxiety, B) depression, C) loneliness, and D) obsessive-compulsive traits.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Results for the GAM analyses of community integration outcomes.
The smoothed curves represent the change over time in trajectories for controls (CTL; gray), recently housed Veterans (RHV; yellow), and Veterans with psychosis (PSY; blue). In all cases, higher scores indicate better functioning. The panels show results for A) family functioning, B) social functioning, C) work outcomes, and D) independent living.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Onyeaka H., et al.., COVID-19 pandemic: A review of the global lockdown and its far-reaching effects. Sci Prog, 2021. 104(2): p. 368504211019854. doi: 10.1177/00368504211019854 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Philpot L.M., et al.., Changes in social relationships during an initial "stay-at-home" phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal survey study in the U.S. Soc Sci Med, 2021. 274: p. 113779. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113779 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fana M., Perez T., and Fernandez-Macias E., Employment impact of Covid-19 crisis: From short term effects to long terms prospects. Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 2020. 47: p. 391–410.
    1. Pollack C., Leifheith K., and Linton S. When storms collide: Evictions, COVID-19, and health equity health affairs blog website. 2020. [cited 2022 April 11]; https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hblog20200730.190964/full/ - DOI
    1. Chen P.J., et al.., An overview of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Diagnosis (Berl), 2021. 8(4): p. 403–412. doi: 10.1515/dx-2021-0046 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types