Abstract
ObjectiveTo examine, through photo-elicitation, the personal and professional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health professionals working with children and adolescents around the globe.MethodsWe invited the submission of images collected about the pandemic between May and August 2020. We encouraged participants to yoke personal reflections or voice memos to their images. Using snowball sampling, we began with two invitations, including one to the graduates of a mentorship program continuously hosted since 2004 by the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP). We analyzed de-identified images and anonymized transcripts through iterative coding using thematic analysis informed by rich picture analysis and aided by NVivo software.ResultsWe collected submissions from child and adolescent mental health professionals (n = 134) working in 54 countries spread across the five continents. We identified four overarching domains with component themes that revealed both the commonality and the uniqueness of the pandemic experience around the globe: (1) Place (adjusting to emptiness and stillness; shifting timeframes; blending of spaces); (2) Person (disruption to life rhythms; emotional toll; positives of the pandemic); (3) Profession (changing practices; outreach efforts; guild pride—and guilt); and (4) Purpose (from pandemic to syndemic; from lamenting to embracing; planning toward a better tomorrow).ConclusionsPhoto-elicitation provided a disarming and efficient means to learn about individual, regional, and global similarities and differences regarding the professionals charged with addressing the mental health needs of children and adolescents around the globe. These findings may help inform practice changes in post-pandemic times.
Highlights
Societal adaptations to the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that started in late 2019 have fundamentally altered daily life across the globe
Sample description We obtained submissions from individual child and adolescent mental health professionals (n = 134) working in 54 countries spread across the inhabited continents
Initial submissions derived from the grand rounds presentation at Yale (n = 22, representing 16% of the sample) and from the 20 Donald J. Cohen mentorship program (DJCP) leaders we approached
Summary
Societal adaptations to the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that started in late 2019 have fundamentally altered daily life across the globe. In part because of these alterations, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the prevalence and natural history of mental health conditions. Much of this influence is rooted in social isolation attributable to lockdown, shelter-in-place, and quarantine practices [3, 4]. Such isolation has been known to increase stress and worsen mental health in situations as varied as epidemics and terrorist threats [5]. The increased social and emotional pressures of this unheralded time have already elevated rates of abuse, neglect, and interpersonal violence [7, 8]
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