Pediatric Mental Healthcare Providers’ Perceptions of the Delivery of Partial Hospitalization and Outpatient Services via Telehealth during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has required healthcare providers to deliver services via telehealth. Unfortunately, many mental healthcare providers have not received direct training in telehealth delivery. Recent research suggests that this disconnect between the large-scale and rapid transition to telehealth service delivery required by the pandemic, combined with inadequate training or preparation time, may result in challenges to delivering quality clinical care. The current study presents results of an online questionnaire completed by 44 pediatric mental healthcare providers assessing provider perspectives of the experience of delivering services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Providers included psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, licensed professional counselors, and direct-care staff. Services were delivered in three different partial hospitalization programs and in a general outpatient clinic at a children’s hospital associated with an academic medical center. Results showed moderate acceptability of telehealth, overall, and a clear preference for at least having a portion of visits be in-person as opposed to solely via telehealth. Provider satisfaction with telehealth delivery and perceptions of quality of clinical care appeared to differ among services. We discuss the implications of these data to inform healthcare settings delivering mental health services via telehealth.