Going Virtual: Youth Attitudes Toward and Experiences of Virtual Mental Health and Substance use Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background. During the COVID-19 pandemic, youth mental health and substance use services rapidly moved to virtual modalities to meet social distancing requirements. It is important to understand youth attitudes toward and experience of virtual services. Objective. This study examined the attitudes toward and experiences for virtual mental health and substance use services among youth drawn from clinical and non-clinical samples.Method. 409 youth completed a survey including questions about their attitudes toward and experience of virtual services. The survey included quantitative and open-ended questions on virtual care, as well as a mental health and substance use screener. Results. The majority of youth with mental health or substance use challenges would be willing to consider individual virtual services, but fewer would consider group virtual services. However, many have not received virtual services. Youth are interested in accessing a wide variety of virtual services and other supportive wellness services. Advantages and disadvantages of virtual services are discussed, including accessibility benefits and technological barriers. Discussion. As youth mental health and substance use services have rapidly gone virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that we hear the perspectives of youth to promote service utilization among those in need. Diverse, accessible, technologically stable virtual services are required to meet the needs of different youth, possibly with in-person options for some youth. Future research, engaging youth in the research process, is needed to evaluate the efficacy of virtual services to plan for sustainability of some virtual service gains beyond the pandemic period.

Youth mental health and/or addiction concerns and service needs during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative exploration of caregiver experiences and perspectives

“…A clear outcome of the pandemic for MHA services has been a shift to virtual care models, with many services rapidly adapting their approaches to be able to serve clients in light of existing protocols and limitations (e.g., [ 15 ]). While many participants enthusiastically shared the comfort and conveniences they experienced through virtual care, a finding consistent with other studies conducted during the pandemic [ 28 ], in the current study, there was a remarkably pervasive preference for in-person care as well as apprehensions toward virtual care. Attitudes toward virtual care were an important point of discussion around likelihood of participating in virtual care.…”

“…Attitudes toward virtual care were an important point of discussion around likelihood of participating in virtual care. Accordingly, prior work has highlighted positive youth attitudes toward virtual care as enabling participation, particularly for individual therapy rather than group support [ 28 ]. In the current study, this was not limited to the caregivers’ descriptions of the youths’ own attitudes toward virtual care—caregiver attitudes toward virtual care were also described as likely to influence the youth’s future participation in virtual care opportunities.…”

“One Degree of Separation”: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Canadian Mental Health Care User and Provider Experiences With Remote Care During COVID-19

“…However, no studies to date have directly compared user and provider satisfaction, and there is scant research on Canadian experiences with this transition. 14,15…”

A Longitudinal Cohort Study of Youth Mental Health and Substance use Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ontario, Canada: An Exploratory Analysis

“… 18 , 19 One study found no major effects on the overall frequency of substance use, but mixed effects for different substances, as well as changes in reasons and contexts of use. 20 …”