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

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.

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.

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.

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.