Group teletherapy for first‐episode psychosis: Piloting its integration with coordinated specialty care during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Digital health has emerged in recent years as a tool to optimize care delivery and promote treatment adherence among individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP). Recent mandates for social distancing and sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic have catapulted efforts to provide ongoing coordinated specialty care (CSC) on virtual platforms. While prior evidence provides support for the general implementation of virtual individual therapy, there is limited guidance and evidence for the adoption of group teletherapy. Here we describe our efforts to implement group teletherapy for two small cohorts of individuals with FEP receiving care in a coordinated specialty care clinic using methods adopted from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. We observed high adherence with group visits as well as client satisfaction across groups. Based on our results, we have taken efforts to implement virtual group therapy more permanently in our clinic. Our experience provides guidance and a model for integration of virtual group therapy within CSC.

COVID‐19 pandemic's effects and telehealth in Early Psychosis Services of Quebec, Canada: Will changes last?

“…Literature about group teletherapy for youth with FEP during the COVID‐19 pandemic is scarce. Results of a pilot study highlight group teletherapy's advantages, as an effective, accessible and recovery‐oriented treatment approach (Wood et al, 2021 ). Furthermore, the virtual format could also allow to bring together patients and clinicians of different clinics, which could potentially greatly expand access for individuals in underserved rural areas (Wood et al, 2021 ).…”

Promoting resilience in persons with serious mental health conditions during the Coronavirus pandemic.

“…To foster resilience during the pandemic, ACT based interventions that emphasize values-based living can be provided remotely and offered via digital applications (Alexopoulos et al, 2020). A group-based teletherapy ACT intervention for individuals with first episode psychosis conducted during the pandemic indicated that this model was feasible to move to the virtual environment and when conducted online was acceptable to the participants, who desired more contact (Wood et al, 2021).…”

Delivery of an online psychosocial recovery program during COVID‐19: A survey of young people attending a youth mental health service

“…Instead, participants conveyed a desire for activities to be delivered face‐face or as a combination of online and face‐face, dependent on the type of activity. Studies regarding preferences for online versus face‐face group intervention are limited, and those that exist vary in their conclusions, with some reporting that online delivery has the potential to become a standard treatment modality (Wood et al, 2021 ) and others reporting that it is worth considering ways that online groups can be incorporated into current service models (Lal et al, 2020 ). Findings from the current study suggests that further consideration around the integration of online groups and face‐face groups will be useful.…”

“…This move was supported by evidence from a systematic review that has indicated that video teleconference groups are feasible and produce outcomes similar to in‐person treatment, with high participant satisfaction (Gentry et al, 2019 ). Preliminary evidence from Wood et al ( 2021 ) concluded that implementing online group therapy for individuals with first‐episode psychosis (FEP) during the COVID‐19 pandemic had the potential to become a standard treatment modality for clients receiving specialty care for FEP. While online, telehealth delivered group interventions had not been previously used at Orygen, this existing research and the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic enabled the rapid move to this mode of delivery and to proactively evaluate the provision of these services.…”