Telehealth for Social Interventions With Adolescents and Young Adults: Diverse Perspectives

ABSTRACT This article describes the telehealth experiences of adolescents, young adults, and youth workers during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in the province of Québec, Canada, where remote appointments was the recommended alternative to in-person meetings due to various public health restrictions. Four main themes emerged from individual interviews with nine adolescents and young adults (aged 15–25 years) and focus groups with 35 service providers: the trust relationship, loss of nonverbal communication, confidentiality concerns, and youth disengagement. Participants agreed that face-to-face psychosocial intervention is the preferred option for quality care and service. However, with appropriate support and infrastructure, telehealth could be a reliable alternate modality for reaching adolescents and young adults in remote and rural areas as well as for follow-up care for adolescents and young adults who have an established and trusted relationship with their service provider. For interventions to remain youth-friendly and person-centred, adolescents and young adults must always be offered a choice of modality. IMPLICATIONS Perspectives of adolescents, young adults, and youth workers intersect to provide a unique understanding of telehealth in a specific context. There is scant literature on the use of telehealth as a social work practice modality, specifically with adolescents, young adults and their families. This article attempts to fill this gap by providing an early look at the experiences of telehealth during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Québec, Canada.