Covid-19 lockdown and consequences in Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatrists' work and symptomatology perception.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The Sars-Cov-2 pandemic changed children everyday activities and the way medical doctors visit their patients, especially during lockdown periods. Object of this work is to investigate the Sars-Cov-2 lockdown consequences in Latium Region, Italy, from the perspective of the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatrists operating in the area. Materials and Methods: A ten questions questionnaire was arranged and sent immediately after the end of the lockdown it included a preliminary query on the reduction of the specialists' clinical activity, and nine queries on the perception of changes in their patients' psychopathological symptoms and/or adaptive behaviors during the lockdown. Results: We found little difference in the overall time devoted to clinical activities, with remote sessions largely replacing face to face sessions and the general impression for this very first phase, of a stability in the child and adolescent psychological symptoms. Conclusions: The informants had the impression of a general worsening of the adaptive strategies in children and adolescents with major neuro-developmental disorders and an increased difficulty in switching off the devices at all ages.