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 Apr;16(4):433-443.
doi: 10.1111/eip.13196. Epub 2021 Jul 26.

Healthcare providers' perceptions of virtual-care with children's mental health in a pandemic: A hospital and community perspective

Affiliations

Healthcare providers' perceptions of virtual-care with children's mental health in a pandemic: A hospital and community perspective

Erin Romanchych et al. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to explore the experiences of a diverse group of mental health clinicians both in hospital and in the community, who were required to rapidly adopt virtual-care practices in the delivery of mental health services to children, adolescents, and their families.

Methods: Mental health clinicians (N = 117) completed the Clinician Virtual-Care Experience Survey assessing the following domains: ease of technology use, client/patient-provider interaction quality, and clinician wellbeing.

Results: Although over 70% of clinicians had not used virtual-care to deliver mental health services prior to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, more than 80% felt it was easy to operate the virtual platforms. Clinicians were divided in their perceptions of the effectiveness of virtual-care, with only 42% reporting that they felt they were as effective in delivering healthcare services virtually as compared to in-person. Virtual-care was described as being more effective for specific populations, while challenges were described in building rapport and when delivering difficult or unexpected feedback.

Conclusions: Clinicians felt there were some benefits of adopting virtual-care practices, while challenges were also identified. Understanding of the impact of virtual-care on service providers is essential in order to strengthen mental healthcare for children, adolescents, and their families even beyond the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; children and adolescents; mental health; psychiatry; virtual-care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this manuscript have no conflicts of interest to declare.

References

    1. Barnett, J. E. , & Kolmes, K. (2016). The practice of tele‐mental health: Ethical, legal, and clinical issues for practitioners. Practice Innovations, 1(1), 53–66. 10.1037/pri0000014 - DOI
    1. Bierbooms, J. , van Haaren, M. , IJsselsteijn, W. , de Kort, Y. , Feijt, M. , & Bongers, I. (2020). The ‘new normal' in mental healthcare: Will the COVID‐19 pandemic be the catalyst for online mental healthcare? JMIR Formative Research, 4, e21344. 10.2196/21344 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Boydell, K. M. , Hodgins, M. , Pignatiello, A. , Teshima, J. , Edwards, H. , & Willis, D. (2014). Using technology to deliver mental health services to children and youth: A scoping review. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 23(2), 87–99. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Braun, V. , & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa - DOI
    1. Brooks, S. K. , Webster, R. K. , Smith, L. E. , Woodland, L. , Wessely, S. , Greenberg, N. , & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. The Lancet, 395, 912–920. 10.1016/S0140-6736 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types