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

Brian Cf Ching,Zoe Berger,Kate Fifield,Anna E Coughtrey,Matteo Catanzano,Isobel Heyman,Suzanne Gray,Mandy Bryon,Holan Liang,Roz Shafran,Sophie D Bennett,Emma Hewson

doi:10.1177/13591045211033186

Abstract

BackgroundThere 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.MethodClinical 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.ResultsRespondents 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.ConclusionsMental 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.

Highlights

Young people and their families have seen many significant life changes since the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), from school closures and social distancing measures, to an economic recession and health crisis
There is a scarcity of research on the mental health impact for young people with long-term physical conditions (LTCs) despite them being a vulnerable group to both COVID-19 (Glasper, 2020; Jones et al, 2020) and mental health difficulties (Glazebrook et al, 2003; Verhoof et al, 2014), especially during COVID-19 (Aishworiya & Kang, 2020; Patel, 2020)
The response rates across the two groups did not differ greatly; we received responses from 39 (61.9%) clinical psychologists and 9 (69.2%) assistant psychologists

Summary

Introduction

Young people and their families have seen many significant life changes since the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), from school closures and social distancing measures, to an economic recession and health crisis. As evidence suggests hospital staff may experience mental health difficulties as a result of working during the pandemic (Greene et al, 2021; Lai et al, 2020), it is important to consider staff experiences during this time Such data will be important to inform adaptive changes in service provision to address mental health needs that arise as a result of COVID-19 itself or the impact of measures taken to manage the virus. There is little understanding of the mental health impact for young people with longterm 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

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion