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Table 5 Reasons for increased availability or ability to provide services

From: The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and substance use health (MHSUH) workforce in Canada: a mixed methods study

Reason for increase

% of Sample (n = 1526)

% of Women (n = 1197)

% of Men (n = 239)

1

Use of virtual care

22.9

22.7

23.0

2

More people have problems relevant to my skills (e.g., grief, trauma)

13.4

13.3

14.2

3

Decided to provide more services on a voluntary basis

8.8

8.1

11.7

4

I receive referrals more quickly

8.5

8.4

10.0

5

New funding has been made available

5.4

4.7

8.8

6

Reduced administrative barriers

5.2

4.0

10.9

7

I, or my employer, have decided to decrease my time on other activities in order to provide more MHSUH services

4.8

4.5

6.3

8

I am able to provide more services outside my province/territory because of reduced regulatory barriers

3.7

2.8

7.9

  1. Percentages based on number of participants who responded to the previous item asking if the pandemic had decreased, not changed, or increased their availability and/or ability to provide services. The n for the sample does not equal the sum of the ns for women and men because the n for the sample includes participants who chose another response option for gender (e.g., gender non-binary) or skipped the gender item. Percentages in bold indicate differences between men and women were significant at p < 0.01 based on Pearson’s Chi-squared test of independence