Authors (including presenting author) :
Cheung SYY
Affiliation :
Department of Clinical Psychology, Castle Peak Hospital
Introduction :
Difficulties in regulating emotions are prevalent among children with behavioural disorders. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, a psychoeducation group focusing on emotion regulation was delivered via online platform Zoom. The feasibility and initial outcomes are examined.
Objectives :
(1) To investigate the feasibility of implementing a psychoeducation group via Zoom (2) To investigate the initial outcomes in subjective mood ratings, standardized psychosocial outcomes and clinician-ratings
Methodology :
The participants consisted of 7 children, aged from 8 to 11 years. Three attended psychiatric follow-up in NTWC for management of sub-clinical anxiety symptoms, and remaining received psychiatric treatment for ADHD and comorbid mood problems. The 9-session psychoeducation group was modified from an evidence-based treatment for children, which introduced cognitive and behavioural strategies to improve regulation of emotions like fear, worry, sadness and anger (Ehrenreich et al., 2018). All sessions were conducted via Zoom, while 3 make-up phone or Zoom interviews were arranged for the 2 participants who missed the scheduled sessions. Pre- and post-assessments were conducted in SOPD or via Zoom. The outcome measures included (1) Subjective unit of distress (SUDS, 0-10), (2) Subjective unit of happiness (Feeling, 0-10), (3) Beck Anxiety Inventory for Youth (BAI-Y), (4) Beck Depression Inventory for Youth (BDI-II), (5) Beck Self-Concept Inventory for Youth (BSCI-Y), and (6) Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS).
Result & Outcome :
All participants achieved 100% attendance. They reported satisfactory acceptability to the format, and indicated no problems in receiving and returning the worksheets via e-mails. Outcomes were analyzed using paired sample t-tests. Results indicated significant improvement in clinician-rated global functioning (Pre-CGAS = 62.86, Post-CGAS = 67.14, t = -6.00, p < .001), and marginally significant improvement in participants’ subjective distress (Pre-SUDS = 7.44, Post-SUDS = 4.86, t = 2.22, p = .09). On the other hand, participants’ improvement in subjective happiness failed to reach statistical significance (Pre-Feeling = 7.00, Post-Feeling = 8.00, t = -0.87, p = .42). Besides, all ratings in pre- and post-assessments on standardized assessments fell in the Average range. To conclude, tele-care format appeared to be feasible and acceptable for the children attending a psychoeducation group for emotion regulation. Potential benefits were indicated in participants’ subjective ratings of distress and clinician-rated outcomes.
