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. 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

Erin Romanchych  1 , Riddhi Desai  1 , Christina Bartha  1   2 , Neill Carson  2 , Marshall Korenblum  2   3 , Suneeta Monga  1   3
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.

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Conflict of interest statement

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

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