Patients hospitalized from COVID-19 require cognitive rehabilitation care to support their recovery from the virus' damaging impacts on the mind. There is a need for a community outreach program for COVID-19 patients to help them cope with the mental and emotional challenges associated with the pandemic. A comprehensive community outreach program should have an education program to improve awareness among patients, a therapy program to help patients cope with mental and emotional challenges, a support system for social support, and a reintegration program to help patients integrate into society. The study presents a community outreach program that will offer cognitive rehabilitation care to COVID-19 patients.
Education Program
There is a need for improving COVID-19 knowledge among patients. Stopping the spread of rumors and knowing the pandemic facts can help reduce stigma and stress (CDC, 2020). The education program can educate patients about the risk to themselves and the people around them. Factual information about COVID-19 can help patients to connect with others and make the pandemic less stressful. The education program will offer comprehensive information from the CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO), and other sources endorsed by these bodies. The outreach program will create a website where patients can learn about COVID-19. Research indicates that health education curriculums aimed at enhancing COVID-19 awareness are helpful because they help patients hold positive attitudes and maintain the recommended practices (Li et al., 2020). The Education program will promote appropriate practices and reduce the stress associated with COVID-19.
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Therapy Program
Mental health is a significant aspect of overall health and wellbeing. Mental health affects how people feel, think, and act. It also impacts how people handle stress, engage with others, and make emergency choices (CDC, 2020). The COVID-19 community outreach program must offer a therapy program that helps patients cope with the mental health issues associated with the pandemic. Therapy will help address the sequelae of job loss, social isolation, grief, and contagion fear. The therapy for COVID-19 patients should be based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT). CBT will be employed to modify maladaptive automatic negative thoughts associated with the pandemic, including hopelessness about sustaining social interactions during quarantine or excessive fear of contamination (Swartz, 2020). The program can schedule pleasurable activities (such as games) or offer behavioral activation to help address challenges associated with loss of regular daily routine and COVID-19 related inactivity. On the other hand, IPT will allow patients to frame the COVID-19 pandemic as a role transition to develop new competencies that will help them adapt more successfully to prevailing challenges (Swartz, 2020). The program will recommend the use of technology to build support during quarantine. The use of IPT and CBT will help people affected by the COVID-19 to maintain their mental health.
Support System and Reintegration Framework
The community outreach program will offer an online support system for COVID-19 survivors. The social support system will create a platform where COVID-19 patients can discuss various issues, including mental health issues, symptoms, stigmatization, or positivity. The outreach program will also create a framework that encourages the reintegration of COVID-19 survivors into society. The framework will be developed based on context-specific demands through the customized protocols offered by the RAPID- Psychological First Aid (PFA) (Ameyaw et al., 2020). The model will provide a lasting positive impact on trauma-related stress. The RAPID-PFA will establish the optimal wellbeing of patients devoid of the psychological effects associated with the pandemic. The framework will consider the cultural characteristics of patients.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 community outreach program will offer comprehensive programs that will provide cognitive rehabilitation care to COVID-19 patients. The education program will provide critical facts on the pandemic to help patients hold optimistic attitudes and maintain recommended practices. This will help reduce the stigma and stress associated with COVID-19. The therapy program will use cognitive behavioral therapy and Interpersonal psychotherapy to address the sequelae of job loss, social isolation, grief, and fear of contagion. The social support system will offer a platform where patients can get emotional support, and the reintegration framework will provide a model to help reintegrate patients into society. The COVID-19 community outreach program will help patients cope with psychological issues associated with the pandemic.
References
Ameyaw, E. K., Hagan, J. E., Ahinkorah, B. O., Seidu, A. A., & Schack, T. (2020). Mainstream reintegration of COVID-19 survivors and its implications for mental health care in Africa. The Pan African Medical Journal, 36. Doi: 10.11604/pamj.2020.36.366.25115
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020). Coping with Stress. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html
Li, W., Liao, J., Li, Q., Baskota, M., Wang, X., Tang, Y., & Fukuoka, T. (2020). Public health education for parents during the outbreak of COVID-19: A rapid review. Annals of Translational Medicine, 8(10).
Swartz, H. A. (2020). The role of psychotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Journal of Psychotherapy . https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20200015
