The emergence of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) in early 2020 led to the sudden temporary closure of K‐12 schools across the United States. Schools were tasked with providing remote instruction to students, and many of these children continued to require mental and behavioral health services provided by school psychologists. In this study, 675 school psychologists were surveyed across the United States to examine how their roles and responsibilities changed as a result of COVID‐19. Participants reported the perceived impact of COVID‐19 on students’ mental health and difficulty serving students and families, as well as their concerns and recommendations pertaining to school reentry. Overall, respondents in this study reported that their roles and responsibilities notably changed because of COVID‐19. Participants noted their belief that children and educators will need increased mental health support upon returning to school. Implications for future practice and research are discussed.

This exploratory study aimed to identify the ways psychologists working in schools supported students' mental health during school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was developed to determine (a) how psychologists working in schools across the United States, Canada, Germany, and Australia supported students' mental health during COVID-19, (b) how their services changed during and (c) potential differences between countries concerning difficulties supporting students' mental health during this time. The survey was based on previous research and was subsequently piloted. Using convenience and snowball sampling, 938 participants (U.S. n = 665; Canada n = 48; Germany n = 140; Australia n = 85) completed the online survey. Overall, school psychology services across these four countries pivoted from psychoeducational assessments to virtual counseling, consultation, and the development/posting of online support directly to children or parents to use with their children. There was some variation between countries; during the pandemic, significantly more psychologists in Germany and Australia provided telehealth/telecounseling than those in the United States and Canada, and psychologists in Germany provided significantly more hardcopy material to support children than psychologists in other countries. There is a need to ensure psychologists have the appropriate technological skills to support school communities during periods of school closure, including, but not limited to, virtual counseling and the administration of psychoeducational assessments. Impact and ImplicationsThis study provides insight into the practices of psychology practitioners working in schools across the United States, Canada, Germany, and Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a broad shift from the provision of psychoeducational assessments to virtual counseling, consultation and the development/posting of online interventions and resources. It is critical that psychologists working in schools have the appropriate technological skills to support students, parents, and school staff during periods of school closure.

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Although previous research has documented the mental and physical health impacts that COVID-19 had on frontline health workers in the United States, little is known about how the pandemic affected their families. This study sought to explore the impact COVID-19 had on the individual functioning of frontline health care workers in the USA and the perceived impact it had on their family members during the initial nine months of the pandemic. More specifically, this study sought to explore if and how family roles, routines, rules, and social-emotional well-being changed as a result of COVID-19. Twenty-eight frontline health care workers across the United States who were parents to at least one child residing in the home under 24 were interviewed. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. From the analysis, three major themes emerged with regard to the changes and perceived impact to family functioning, family experiences of new hygiene practices, and stigma related to being a health care practitioner or having a family member working in health care. The results of this study can be used by mental health clinicians to inform policy, develop practice guidelines, and help identify and target interventions for health care workers and their family members.

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