ICOPE With COVID-19: A Brief Telemental Health Intervention for Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic☆☆☆★
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zepeda M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8532498 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Introduction: Mental health problems among children and adolescents are frequent. Today, the world is facing a pandemic with a novel coronavirus, which is related to the higher rates of mental problems reported worldwide. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the Covid-19 related experiences, educational experiences, and family functioning on mental health and wellbeing among children and adolescents in Chile during the Pandemic and lockdown health measures. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of the first wave of an ongoing longitudinal study among girls and boys of Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade (4-18 years old) in Santiago, Chile. The sample consisted of 979 students from eight different schools. The method of data collection was online surveys administered to parents and adolescents. The dependent variables were mental health problems and wellbeing. Several independent variables were assessed (sociodemographic variables, Covid-19 related experiences, related educational experiences, and family functioning). A descriptive analysis and univariable and multivariable regression models were performed to study the association between variables. Results: Positive educational experiences, primarily academic self-concept, reduced the probability of mental health problems and increased wellbeing. Among covid-19 related variables, practicing meditation or praying reduced emotional problems, while having family or health problems increased emotional problems among adolescents. No clear association between Covid-19 related experiences variables among children was found. Conclusions: Our findings may help educational and public health authorities to plan future school preventive interventions to improve mental health and wellbeing in this population.
| S-EPMC8116561 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundEarly in 2020, mental health services had to rapidly shift from face-to-face models of care to delivering the majority of treatments remotely (by video or phone call or occasionally messaging) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in several challenges for staff and patients, but also in benefits such as convenience or increased access for people with impaired mobility or in rural areas. There is a need to understand the extent and impacts of telemental health implementation, and barriers and facilitators to its effective and acceptable use. This is relevant both to future emergency adoption of telemental health and to debates on its future use in routine mental health care.ObjectiveTo investigate the adoption and impacts of telemental health approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic, and facilitators and barriers to optimal implementation.MethodsFour databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science) were searched for primary research relating to remote working, mental health care, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Preprint servers were also searched. Results of studies were synthesized using framework synthesis.ResultsA total of 77 papers met our inclusion criteria. In most studies, the majority of contacts could be transferred to a remote form during the pandemic, and good acceptability to service users and clinicians tended to be reported, at least where the alternative to remote contacts was interrupting care. However, a range of impediments to dealing optimal care by this means were also identified.ConclusionsImplementation of telemental health allowed some continuing support to the majority of service users during the COVID-19 pandemic and has value in an emergency situation. However, not all service users can be reached by this means, and better evidence is now needed on long-term impacts on therapeutic relationships and quality of care, and on impacts on groups at risk of digital exclusion and how to mitigate these.Trial registrationPROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews CRD42021211025; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021211025.
| S-EPMC8664153 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-BSST1055 | biostudies-other
Project description:ImportanceThere are suggestions that school pressure may be stressful and a factor in child and adolescent mental health disturbances, but data about this association are scarce and inconclusive.ObjectiveTo assess whether varying degrees of school interruption were associated with changes in emergency department (ED) psychiatric visits of children and adolescents before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.Design, setting, and participantsA cross-sectional observational study was conducted at 9 urban university hospitals in Italy. All ED visits from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021, for psychiatric reasons of patients younger than 18 years were examined for demographic characteristics and type of psychopathologic factors. Data analysis was conducted from July 1 to August 31, 2023.ExposureThe disruption in the usual succession of school and holiday periods brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic at different times and with various degrees of intensity.Main outcomes and measuresTotal number of pediatric ED visits, psychiatric ED visits, and psychiatric ED visits categorized by specific reasons (eg, psychomotor agitation, suicide ideation [SI] or suicide attempt [SA], and eating disorders) on a weekly basis.ResultsA total of 13 014 psychiatric ED visits (1.3% of all pediatric ED visits) were recorded (63.2% females; mean [SD] age, 13.8 [3.8] years). The number of ED psychiatric visits increased over time (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.19; 95% CI, 1.16-1.22 for each year). Significant increases in ED visits were observed for eating disorders (294.8%), SI (297.8%), and SA (249.1%). School opening, but not social lockdown restriction, was associated with an increase in the number of ED psychiatric visits (IRR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.23-1.34), which was evident for females and for SI with SA. Socioeconomic status was associated with an increase in psychiatric visits for males (IRR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.04-1.20) but not females (IRR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.98-1.10).Conclusions and relevanceIn this study, school opening was associated with an increased incidence of acute psychiatric emergencies among children and adolescents, suggesting that school can be a substantial source of stress with acute mental health implications.
| S-EPMC11301547 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted telemedicine use for mental illness (telemental health). Objective: In the scoping review, we describe the scope and domains of telemental health during the COVID-19 pandemic from the published literature and discuss associated challenges. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and the World Health Organization's Global COVID-19 Database were searched up to August 23, 2020 with no restrictions on study design, language, or geographical, following an a priori protocol (https://osf.io/4dxms/). Data were synthesized using descriptive statistics from the peer-reviewed literature and the National Quality Forum's (NQF) framework for telemental health. Sentiment analysis was also used to gauge patient and healthcare provider opinion toward telemental health. Results: After screening, we identified 196 articles, predominantly from high-income countries (36.22%). Most articles were classified as commentaries (51.53%) and discussed telemental health from a management standpoint (86.22%). Conditions commonly treated with telemental health were depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Where data were available, most articles described telemental health in a home-based setting (use of telemental health at home by patients). Overall sentiment was neutral-to-positive for the individual domains of the NQF framework. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there was a marked growth in the uptake of telemental health during the pandemic and that telemental health is effective, safe, and will remain in use for the foreseeable future. However, more needs to be done to better understand these findings. Greater investment into human and financial resources, and research should be made by governments, global funding agencies, academia, and other stakeholders, especially in low- and middle- income countries. Uniform guidelines for licensing and credentialing, payment and insurance, and standards of care need to be developed to ensure safe and optimal telemental health delivery. Telemental health education should be incorporated into health professions curricula globally. With rapidly advancing technology and increasing acceptance of interactive online platforms amongst patients and healthcare providers, telemental health can provide sustainable mental healthcare across patient populations. Systematic Review Registration: https://osf.io/4dxms/.
| S-EPMC8606591 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThere is concern that the COVID-19 pandemic may negatively affect health behaviors in youth, especially youth diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper was to examine changes in physical activity, screen-time, and sleep in adolescents with ASD due to the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsNine adolescents with ASD completed surveys measuring physical activity, screen-time, and sleep duration prior to and during the pandemic.ResultsA significant decrease in days of physical activity (4.17 vs 2.27; p = 0.0006), and a significant increase in hours of both weekday (3.69 vs 6.25; p = 0.007) and weekend screen-time (5.94 vs. 7.39; p = 0.004) was observed during the pandemic. No changes regarding sleep duration was observed.ConclusionsAlthough preliminary, results suggest that physical activity and screen-time may be negatively affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in youth with ASD. The development of interventions to promote health behaviors in ASD populations during long periods of less-structured time (quarantine) should be considered.
| S-EPMC9760178 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic has led to special circumstances and changes to everyday life due to the worldwide measures that were imposed such as lockdowns. This review aims to evaluate obesity in children, adolescents and young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. A literature search was conducted to evaluate pertinent studies up to 10 November 2020. A total of 15 articles were eligible; 9 identified 17,028,111 children, adolescents and young adults from 5-25 years old, 5 pertained to studies with an age admixture (n = 20,521) and one study included parents with children 5-18 years old (n = 584). During the COVID-19 era, children, adolescents and young adults gained weight. Changes in dietary behaviors, increased food intake and unhealthy food choices including potatoes, meat and sugary drinks were noted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Food insecurity associated with financial reasons represents another concern. Moreover, as the restrictions imposed reduced movements out of the house, physical activity was limited, representing another risk factor for weight gain. COVID-19 restrictions disrupted the everyday routine of children, adolescents and young adults and elicited changes in their eating behaviors and physical activity. To protect them, health care providers should highlight the risk of obesity and provide prevention strategies, ensuring also parental participation. Worldwide policies, guidelines and precautionary measures should ideally be established.
| S-EPMC7918914 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts in many different spheres, including mental health. Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable because their central nervous system is still in development and they have fewer coping resources than do adults. Increases in the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptomatology have been reported worldwide. However, access to mental health care is limited, especially for the paediatric population and in low- and middle-income countries. Therefore, we developed a brief internet-delivered cognitive-behavioural intervention for children and adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression. The aim of this proposed study is to test the efficacy of the intervention.MethodsWe will conduct a two-arm, parallel randomised controlled trial involving children and adolescents (8-11 and 12-17 years of age, respectively) with symptoms of anxiety, depression or both, according to the 25-item Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (t-score > 70). A total of 280 participants will be randomised to the intervention group or the active control group, in a 1:1 ratio. Those in the intervention group will receive five weekly sessions of cognitive-behavioural therapy via teleconference. The sessions will focus on stress responses, family communication, diaphragmatic breathing, emotions, anger management, behavioural activation and cognitive restructuring. Participants in both groups will have access to 15 videos covering the same topics. Participant-guardian pairs will be expected to attend the sessions (intervention group), watch the videos (control group) or both (intervention group only). A blinded assessor will collect data on symptoms of anxiety, depression and irritability, at baseline, at the end of the intervention and 30 days thereafter. Adolescents with access to a smartphone will also be invited to participate in an ecological momentary assessment of emotional problems in the week before and the week after the intervention, as well as in passive data collection from existing smartphone sensors throughout the study.DiscussionInternet-delivered interventions play a major role in increasing access to mental health care. A brief, manualised, internet-delivered intervention might help children and adolescents with anxiety or depressive symptomatology, even outside the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT05139433. Registered prospectively in November 2021. Minor amendments made in July 2022.
| S-EPMC9588201 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic required mental health services around the world to adapt quickly to the new restrictions and regulations put in place to reduce the risk of transmission. As face-to-face contact became difficult, virtual methods were implemented to continue to safely provide mental health care. However, it is unclear to what extent service provision transitioned to telemental health worldwide.ObjectiveWe aimed to systematically review the global research literature on how mental health service provision adapted during the first year of the pandemic.MethodsWe searched systematically for quantitative papers focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health services published until April 13, 2021, in the PubMed, Embase, medRxiv, and bioXriv electronic bibliographic databases, using the COVID-19 Open Access Project online platform. The screening process and data extraction were independently completed by at least two authors, and any disagreement was resolved by discussion with a senior member of the team. The findings were summarized narratively in the context of each country's COVID-19 Stringency Index, which reflects the stringency of a government's response to COVID-19 restrictions at a specific time.ResultsOf the identified 24,339 records, 101 papers were included after the screening process. Reports on general services (n=72) showed that several countries' face-to-face services reduced their activities at the start of the pandemic, with reductions in the total number of delivered visits and with some services forced to close. In contrast, telemental health use rapidly increased in many countries across the world at the beginning of the pandemic (n=55), with almost complete virtualization of general and specialistic care services by the end of the first year. Considering the reported COVID-19 Stringency Index values, the increased use of virtual means seems to correspond to periods when the Stringency Index values were at their highest in several countries. However, due to specific care requirements, telemental health could not be used in certain subgroups of patients, such as those on clozapine or depot treatments and those who continued to need face-to-face visits.ConclusionsDuring the pandemic, mental health services had to adapt quickly in the short term, implementing or increasing the use of telemental health services across the globe. Limited access to digital means, poor digital skills, and patients' preferences and individual needs may have contributed to differences in implementing and accessing telemental health services during the pandemic. In the long term, a blended approach, combining in-person and virtual modalities, that takes into consideration the needs, preferences, and digital skills of patients may better support the future development of mental health services. It will be required to improve confidence with digital device use, training, and experience in all modalities for both clinicians and service users.
| S-EPMC9400843 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Children and adolescents are affected in various ways by the lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is crucial to better understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in this age-group. Objective: The objective was to investigate and compare the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in three age groups (1-6 years, 7-10 years, 11-19 years) and to examine the associations with psychological factors. Methods: An anonymous online survey was conducted from 9 April to 11 May 2020 during the acute phase of major lockdown measures. In this cross-sectional study, children and adolescents aged between 1 and 19 years were recruited as a population-based sample. They were eligible if they were residents in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, were parents/caregivers of a child aged between 1 and 10 years or adolescents ≥11 years, had sufficient German language skills and provided informed consent. Results: Among 5823 participants, between 2.2% and 9.9% reported emotional and behavioural problems above the clinical cut-off and between 15.3% and 43.0% reported an increase in these problems during the pandemic. Significant age-related effects were found regarding the type and frequency of problems (χ2 (4)≥50.2, P ≤ 0.001). While preschoolers (1-6 years) had the largest increase in oppositional-defiant behaviours, adolescents reported the largest increase in emotional problems. Adolescents experienced a significantly larger decrease in emotional and behavioural problems than both preschoolers and school-children. Sociodemographic variables, exposure to and appraisal of COVID-19, psychotherapy before COVID-19 and parental mental health significantly predicted change in problem-scores (F ≥ 3.69, P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: A substantial proportion of children and adolescents experience age-related mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. These problems should be monitored, and support should be offered to risk-groups to improve communication, emotion regulation and appraisal style.
| S-EPMC8075089 | biostudies-literature