Markoulakis Roula, Da Silva Andreina, Kodeeswaran Sugy, Levitt Anthony
Sunnybrook Research Institute, 1929 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4G 3E8, Canada.
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, 500 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1V7, Canada.
Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2022 May 10;16(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s13034-022-00471-0.
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had a significant impact on youth mental health and/or addiction concerns and exacerbated pre-existing gaps in access to mental health and/or addiction care. Caregivers can support their youth in seeking and participating in care, however, their experiences in doing so in the pandemic and their perspectives of their youth's care needs are not well-understood. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted to better understand youth's and caregivers' experiences accessing care during the pandemic, from the caregivers' standpoint. Participants completed semi-structured qualitative interviews that focused on experiences seeking and accessing mental health and/or addiction services, with specific questions regarding their experiences accessing services during the pandemic. A total of 46 interviews were included in the thematic analysis of the data. Study findings highlight the impacts of the pandemic on everyday life, on youth mental health and/or addiction needs, on caregiver's experiences seeking and accessing services for their youth, and on service access, including perceptions of virtual care modalities. The discussion highlights the importance of focusing on factors that enable youth's participation in care, to ensure accessibility of appropriate and timely care that meets youth's and families' needs. Also highlighted is the frustration and despair experienced by caregivers seeking critical mental health and addictions supports for their youth during the pandemic, as well as the sense of isolation and of being left behind by the system. Identifying caregiver perspectives of youth mental health and addiction needs and service access during the COVID-19 pandemic provided important insights that can help inform approaches to youth mental health and addictions care during the pandemic and beyond.
新冠疫情无疑对青少年心理健康和/或成瘾问题产生了重大影响，加剧了此前在获得心理健康和/或成瘾护理方面存在的差距。照顾者可以支持他们的孩子寻求并参与护理，然而，他们在疫情期间这样做的经历以及他们对孩子护理需求的看法尚未得到充分了解。为了从照顾者的角度更好地理解青少年和照顾者在疫情期间获得护理的经历，开展了一项描述性定性研究。参与者完成了半结构化定性访谈，访谈重点是寻求和获得心理健康和/或成瘾服务的经历，并针对他们在疫情期间获得服务的经历提出了具体问题。共有46次访谈被纳入数据分析的主题分析。研究结果突出了疫情对日常生活、青少年心理健康和/或成瘾需求、照顾者为其孩子寻求和获得服务的经历以及服务获取的影响，包括对虚拟护理模式的看法。讨论强调了关注促使青少年参与护理的因素的重要性，以确保获得符合青少年和家庭需求的适当和及时护理。还强调了照顾者在疫情期间为其孩子寻求关键心理健康和成瘾支持时所经历的沮丧和绝望，以及被系统孤立和抛弃的感觉。了解照顾者在新冠疫情期间对青少年心理健康和成瘾需求以及服务获取的看法，提供了重要的见解，有助于为疫情期间及之后的青少年心理健康和成瘾护理方法提供参考。
