Article archive / September 2020
Originally published: . Volume 11, No. 9. Source pages: 1, 3.
During April and May, Multi-Health Systems Inc. (MHS) conducted a survey of psychologists and related other practitioners to explore the impact of Covid-19 on psychological services.
MHS researchers found that there has been a 58% overall loss in service capacity.
The top three provider types that have lost the greatest percentage of their work or practice are neuropsychologists, with a decrease of 72%, school psychologists, with a decrease of 65%, and clinical psychologists with a drop of 50%.
In looking at settings, those neuropsychologists in private practice reported the highest loss of all other groups, an 82% loss in service to the public.
Practitioners working in the Veterans Administration reported a service capacity loss of 68%.
In patient hospital settings reported the lowest losses, at 48%.
The researchers asked how these services could be improved and 46% of the respondents said they planned on administering performance-based test over remote mechanisms.
A total of 43% said they intended to use teletherapy services. This compared to only 1% of the practitioners, prior to Covid- 19, confirming that they planned to be using telepsychology in some capacity, said researchers.
Of the psychologists and practitioners surveyed, 24% reported that they currently provide crisis counseling which compared to 8% before Covid-19.
The researchers found that the top three worries and challenges to delivering clinical services remotely included a lack of validated tools for telepsychology. At least 78% of neuropsychologists and 80% of school psychologists rated this as a very or extremely challenging problem.
A second problem noted by respondents regarding adapting to the Covid-19 environment was that remote service
delivery was not appropriate for specific populations.
Finally, the third greatest concern was that logistical issues regarding telepsychology practice was considered to be a challenge.
The researchers studied the responses of over 2000 individuals composed of 42% school psychologists, 36% clinical psychologists, 14% neuropsychologists, and 8% others. The respondents serve children, youths, adults, and families.
Multi-Health Systems Inc. (MHS) serves clients in educational, clinical, corporate, public safety, government, military, pharmaceutical, and research settings. The firm is a leading publisher of scientifically validated assessments.
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