Caring for the Most Vulnerable: A Model for Managing Maladaptive Behavior in Children with Mental Special Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Telemedicine and e-Health
Abstract
This article presents the results of a comprehensive national model developed for managing maladaptive behaviors (MBs) in children with mental special needs
(CMSNs) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic that combines telehealth-based Applied Behavioral
Analyses, psychiatric interventions, and support from local
psychosocial teams. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of a system that combined telehealth applications
with local psychosocial support teams, allowing services from
video calls to emergency interventions.
Materials and Methods: The system combines the telehealth
applications with the services from local psychosocial intervention teams. In addition to system records covering sociodemographic variables and initial complaints, a telephone
survey questioning the effectiveness and satisfaction of the
system was used as the main outcome.
Results: In total, 347 individuals used the system with mothers constituting the majority of applicants (88.7%, n = 332).
The overall satisfaction of the system was 8.8/10. In terms
of effectiveness, 63.3% (n = 237) of caregivers reported an
improvement in the reason of application. Counselors decided
on a need for follow-up visits for 36.6% (n = 137) of applications. A referral to a psychiatrist was asked for 40 patients
(10.6%).
Discussion: To our best knowledge, this is the first study
presenting a model for managing MBs of CMSNs during the
COVID-19 outbreak. In general, therefore, it seems that there
is a need for unique systems to handle behavioral problems of
CMSNs.
Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that it is
possible to establish an integrative multistep multidisciplinary telehealth-based approach in a short while.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
behavioral health, pandemic, children with special needs, mental health, intervention
Citation
Dursun, O. B., Turan, B., Gulsen, M., Karayagmurlu, A., Tugce Mustan, A., Kutlu, A., ... & Tanır, Y. (2020). Caring for the Most Vulnerable: A Model for Managing Maladaptive Behavior in Children with Mental Special Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Telemedicine and e-Health.