Examining clinicians' concerns delivering telemental health interventions directly to autistic individuals during COVID-19.

Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 101300021 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 1750-9467 (Print) NLM ISO Abbreviation: Res Autism Spectr Disord Subsets: PubMed not MEDLINE

Original Publication: Amsterdam : Elsevier

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the adoption of telemental health (TMH). Pre-pandemic, clinicians had voiced many TMH concerns, but these had not been investigated with respect to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) even with it being known that there are distinct ASD-associated challenges for in-person mental health interventions.
Method: A convenience sample of ( n  = 55) clinicians completed an online survey regarding their perspectives of adopting TMH interventions in ASD, with closed- and open-answered questions. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed descriptively/inferentially and via Content Analysis, respectively.
Results: Multiple clinicians endorsed each TMH challenges/barrier previously identified as concerns in the non-ASD literature. However, overall levels of concern over challenges/barriers were low, and challenges were more likely to be predicted than experienced and considered to be case/presentation specific. Challenges that were considered ASD-specific included the exacerbation of those associated with in-person delivery in ASD, alongside difficulties with trust and appropriate remote social behaviour. On average, clinicians indicated a preference for 50% TMH interventions post-pandemic. Clinicians' perceived technological competence and extent of professional experience with ASD were not significantly associated with levels of concern, nor number of experienced challenges, with TMH interventions in ASD.
Conclusion: In support of the existing TMH literature, challenges/barriers were more likely to be predicted than experienced and were considered to be case/presentation-specific, though this may be more variable in ASD owing to the well-established marked heterogeneity in this population. Remote provision of interventions exacerbated in-person ASD-associated challenges, as predicted, but clinician-level factors appeared not to impact TMH perceptions.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

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Keywords: ASD; Mental health interventions; Telehealth; Telepsychiatry

Date Created: 20220404 Latest Revision: 20221221

20221221

PMC8963796

10.1016/j.rasd.2022.101956

35369648