Population-level public mental health intervention via interdisciplinary COVID-19 health crisis communication: how can occupational therapists contribute?

ABSTRACT

The earliest stages of the COVID-19 pandemic posed risks to Malaysian mental health as isolating infection control measures intended to preserve public health and safety were contrarian to typical coping mechanisms for stress. This case report discusses how the Malaysian Health Coalition COVID-19 health crisis communications’ occupational therapy-led efforts have ventured to strike a balance between both: supporting Malaysian mental health and well-being alongside enabling maintenance of behaviours needed to control viral spread. Strategic leadership roles present an opportunity for occupational therapists to influence the integration of trauma-informed, occupation-focused mental health messages into health crisis communications in a culturally relevant manner. Furthermore, the population health approach to primary-level public health intervention through this medium can serve to amplify occupational therapists’ professional recommendations. This report can serve as an example to occupational therapists looking to expand their practices into public mental health, particularly those working with culturally collectivist populations.

KEYWORDS:

• Malaysia
• pandemic
• occupational therapy
• trauma-informed practice
• collectivist culture

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my colleague Dr Khor Swee Kheng for accepting my application to volunteer for this project and for entrusting me to with a leadership role in health strategy / operations. I would also like to thank all volunteers of the Malaysian Health Coalition COVID-19 Health Crisis Communications team for your incredible resilience and patience, and for your support when the going gets tough – as it rightly would for anybody involved in building an organisation in the middle of a pandemic.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).