A survey of mental health professionals in a paediatric hospital during COVID-19

Abstract

Background There is little understanding of the mental health impact for young people with long-term physical health conditions and mental health professionals’ experiences of supporting them during COVID-19. This service evaluation aimed to conduct a survey of the psychological services provided by mental health professionals in a paediatric hospital in relation to COVID-19. Method Clinical psychologists and assistant psychologists ( n = 76) across the hospital were asked to complete a survey, asking about their perceptions of COVID-19’s impact on patients and families and experiences of providing support during COVID-19. Open-ended survey questions were analysed qualitatively using framework analysis. Results Respondents described perceived impacts on patients and families around social isolation, school closure, family relationships, physical health, mental health, treatments and social support. Respondents’ experiences of providing mental health support during COVID-19 highlighted themes around providing remote/virtual support, workload and facilitators and barriers to their work. Conclusions Mental health professionals surveyed reported a complex mental health landscape in young people with long-term physical health conditions and their families during COVID-19. Service-wide involvement is needed to facilitate changes to support vital adaptations to remote/virtual working. Research on the mental health of young people with long-term physical health conditions and staff experiences of providing support is warranted.

Growth mindset in young people awaiting treatment in a paediatric mental health service: A mixed methods pilot of a digital single-session intervention

“…This pragmatic pilot suggests the highly accessible intervention can be offered to patients on waiting lists for mental health treatment. This is relevant to children services during COVID-19, as we have seen an uptake in technology use to maintain service provisions (Ching et al, 2021; Sharma et al, 2020). A recent trial found that a digital SSI improved mental health outcomes of students during COVID-19 (Wasil et al, 2021) suggesting that SSIs are especially useful when access to care is difficult.…”

Mental health in Italy after two years of COVID-19 from the perspective of 1281 Italian physicians: looking back to plan forward

“…The impact of the pandemic on mental health has been less studied than the COVID-19 epidemiology, transmission patterns, physical symptoms, and their treatment [18]. Furthermore, while numerous studies have been conducted to assess physician and patient satisfaction with telemedicine [19][20][21][22], to our knowledge, fewer studies have been conducted to examine physicians' perceptions of the mental health crisis and/or suggestions on how to best face the future challenges [1,[23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

Changes and adaptations in a national specialist paediatric mental health service in response to Covid-19

“…Our recent survey of mental health professionals captured an initial picture of the mental health landscape in the paediatric population, finding diverse experiences of the impact of COVID-19 on working, on children, and on families (Ching et al, 2021). Our own clinical experience has also been heterogeneous.…”

“…Mental health in paediatric patients attending a children's hospital may have been compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic but flexibility in service provision has allowed needs to be met, in terms of the number of families referred to our service that continued to receive remote assessment and intervention. Based on our personal clinical judgement and experiences of working during the pandemic and preliminary research (e.g., Ching et al, 2021), some of these service delivery adaptations appear beneficial to families and staff and may be continued post-pandemic.…”