A Telepsychology-Based Social Competence Intervention for Youth with Learning Disabilities and Mental Health Difficulties During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Youth with learning disabilities (LDs) have a heightened risk for co-occurring mental health difficulties. The co-occurrence of LDs and mental health difficulties (LDMH) is associated with further risk of adverse impacts on cognitive and academic performance. Therefore, the availability of effective social competence interventions for youth with LDMH is essential to scaffold skill development and prevent cascading difficulties into adulthood. That said, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the immediate pause of most in-person therapeutic services. In response to worsening of youths’ mental health difficulties and the significant challenges that the pandemic created for mental health service delivery, the Child Development Institute in Ontario, Canada, transitioned their in-person Social Awareness, Competence, Engagement, & Skills (ACES) intervention service to virtual implementation. I conducted two studies with the purpose of gathering qualitative and quantitative data to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the telepsychology-based adaptations of Social ACES from the clinician, caregiver, and youth perspectives. Methods: Data collection occurred through in-depth semi-structured interviews of nine Social ACES clinicians (Study 1), four caregivers and four youth who partook in the telepsychology-based intervention (Study 2); lived experiences were analysed using the qualitative approach of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. For a mixed-methods perspective, I also examined outcomes of the intervention through quantitative parent ratings of their child’s social competence pre- post-treatment, augmented by clinicians’ reports (Study 2). The data was triangulated to provide a deeper perspective of the youths’ progress through the program and challenges experienced. Results: The findings resulted in the emergence of four (Study 1) and two (Study 2) major themes, as well as elucidating four integrated youth case studies, to help clarify clinicians’, caregivers, and youths’ perceptions of the adaptation. Conclusions: These studies provided preliminary evidence for the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of virtual Social ACES. The findings have implications for the future of mental health service delivery, raise further questions about the effectiveness of social competence programming during and after a time of significant disruption, and point to several lines of inquiry for future critical research on virtual interventions for children and youth.