A Child Psychiatry Clinical Sample of Adolescents’ Covid-19 Perception and Compliance with Measures

Abstract

Background: Our study aimed to assess the Covid-19 perception of adolescents who admitted to child psychiatry outpatients and their compliance with preventive measures. In addition, we evaluated whether there was an increase in the psychological distress of the participants during the pandemic. Materials and Methods: A study invitation and a questionnaire link were sent to the parents of 12-18 years old adolescents who applied to child and adolescent psychiatry outpatients for any reason in the 3-month period before the Covid-19 pandemic onset. Between April-May 2020, 32 girls and 21 boys filled the online survey. The survey included the Childhood Depression Inventory and The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders and questions for obtaining sociodemographic data, questions about adolescents' perception of Covid-19 infection and questions asking about whether there was an increase in their psychological distress.Results: 66% of the adolescents perceived Covid-19 as a health threat, 60.4% reported that they were obeying Covid-19 preventive measures. 30.4% were using a mask, 90.6% were covering their mouth and nose while sneezing, and 94.3% were paying attention to social distance. While the use of immune system support products was found to be statistically significantly higher in female adolescents (x2=6.359; p=0.017), there was no difference in terms of other health behaviors. 32.1% of the adolescents reported an increase in complaints that caused them to refer to child psychiatry outpatients. The diagnostic status or the anxiety or depression level of the adolescents were not found to influence their compliance. Conclusion: The study results showed the adolescents, who had child psychiatry outpatient referral history in the pre-pandemic period and had higher levels of psychiatric complaints than the general community, complied Covid-19 precautions at a moderate-good level. Also, about a third of them experienced an increase in their application complaints.