Psychiatric News (4/27) reports while “policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic enabled physicians to deliver care via telehealth, people of all ages from across the country remain without access to such care due to a lack of reliable internet service and/or computers.” Marie Smith-East, Ph.D., D.N.P., and Shaquita Starks, Ph.D., A.P.R.N., wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, “While a large majority of youth in the United States have internet access, about 14% of youth ages 6 to 17 live in homes without internet and 17% of youth ages 3 to 18 live in homes without computers, numbers which translate to approximately 11 million youth without access to the internet.” In the letter, “Smith-East and Starks offered several recommendations for connecting youth without internet access and/or computers to remote mental health care, including the use of telephone consultations with psychiatrists; buses that go into local communities equipped with internet service and laptops, where patients can access telehealth appointments; and community internet hubs where youth can access the internet outside their home for telehealth appointments.”
Related Links:
— “‘Digital Divide’ May Further Worsen Mental Health Disparities in Youth, Psychiatric News, April 27, 2021