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BackgroundIn 2020, Attend Anywhere video consultation service was introduced across the Irish public health service to facilitate the provision of health interventions remotely in light of COVID-19-related restrictions. This study aims to explore the experiences of young people, their parents and their clinicians, of using the newly introduced Attend Anywhere video consultation as part of their Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).MethodA cross-section of twenty-nine young people, their parents and clinicians working in CAMHS Clare completed a survey pertaining to their experiences of using Attend Anywhere as part of their service. A cross-disciplinary research steering group of CAMHS clinicians adapted the NHS Scotland evaluation of Attend Anywhere / Near Me survey to better capture experiences in a CAMHS setting. The survey included both quantitative and qualitative items. Descriptive statistics were used to examine quantitative data. Qualitative data was analysed using Thematic Analysis.Results/FindingsResults demonstrated a decrease in the number of barriers reported by clients and professionals in accessing the CAMH service following the introduction of Attend Anywhere video consultation. Overall, the majority of professionals reported that they would use Attend Anywhere again, whereas almost a quarter of clients reported that they did not wish to use it again. Clients indicated a preference for receiving face-to-face services over other service provision options and this finding was associated with not having to rely on technology or manage connectivity issues and finding it easier to build the therapeutic relationship in-person.ConclusionFindings suggest that both professionals and clients value face-to-face service provision while also acknowledging the benefits of Video Enabled Care in overcoming access barriers. We conclude that VEC be offered as an option in a blended service model, in conjunction with rather than as a replacement of face-to-face service provision.

Evidence suggests young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have lower levels of emotion regulation than typically developing peers and struggle to modulate the frequency and intensity of their emotions. It may be that these emotion regulation difficulties are a result of co-occurring alexithymia rather than being a core symptom of ASD. We explored the associations between alexithymia and emotion regulation in 43 young people with ASD, aged 10 - 18 years, through self and parent report questionnaires. Parents completed questionnaires measuring the young person's emotion regulation skills and ASD symptom severity. The young people completed measures of emotion regulation and alexithymia. Correlational analysis and linear regression were used to investigate the relationships between ASD severity, alexithymia and emotion regulation. As predicted, high levels of alexithymia and high level of emotion dysregulation were reported by the young people. Parents also scored the young people as being high on emotion dysregulation. We found statistically significant correlations between alexithymia and emotion regulation, as reported by young people themselves, with some large effect sizes. Parental report of emotion regulation did not correlate with the measure of alexithymia. The source of discrepancies between parent and adolescent perceptions of emotion regulation and emotion recognition are discussed. These results highlighted the key role emotion regulation difficulties play in the lives of young people with ASD and the association with alexithymia. High levels of alexithymia are likely to impinge on the selection of appropriate emotion regulation strategies. The clinical implications for treatment are discussed.