The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) Summer School allows psychiatric trainees and early career psychiatrists (ECPs) from all over Europe to meet, network, and learn together. After the 2020 edition being cancelled due to COVID-19, the 10th edition in 2021 focused for the first time on research and was conducted remotely.

To provide an overview and feedback about the first Virtual EPA Research Summer School as a new way to encourage international networking during COVID-19.

The School was organized by the EPA Secretary for Education, and 4 Faculty members. It started with a “breaking the ice session” one week before and then a two-days meeting on 23-24 September 2021 using an online video-platform. This was preceded by all the 21 participants (from 18 different countries) recording a short 4-minute video presentation, which was uploaded and shared with other participants and Faculty.

Participants were divided on a voluntary basis into three working groups: 1) “Drug repurposing: overcoming challenges in pharmacoepidemiology” 2) “Psychopathological research in psychiatry”; 3) “How to conduct a cross-sectional survey?”. The Summer School program was composed of plenary sessions with lectures by the Faculty members, discussion sessions, and working groups time. At the end, each group presented a summary of the work done to the rest of the participants.

Although the remote format limits social interactions during the Summer School, overall participants’ high satisfaction and productivity indicate that not only online formats, but also the topic of research might be covered in future editions.

No significant relationships.

Since its early stages, the Covid-19 outbreak has posed immense challenges for effective, scalable and rapid interventions. Telehealth approaches have been considered as key part of an effective pandemic response.

The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the role of digital solutions in fighting the mental health needs during COVID-19 outbreak.

This review was conducted through searching four databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct. Inclusion criteria included studies clearly defining any use of telehealth services in all aspects of mental health care during COVID-19 outbreak, published from December 31, 2019 to October 31, 2020, written in English language and published in peer-reviewed journals. Narrative synthesis was undertaken to summarize the findings according a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis.

62 studies met the inclusion out of the 278 search results. Data converged on: strengths in minimizing the risk of Covid-19 transmission, reduction of travel time and costs, comparable effectiveness to in-person care; weaknesses i.e. decreased ability to detect non-verbal cues, lower therapeutic alliance, possible technical connection problems; opportunities in improving the healthcare system and expanding its accessibility for patients also for the future; threats such as privacy and legal issues, and risk to overlook vulnerable populations (e.g. elderly, marginalized ethnic minorities).

In the midst of a global mental health emergency, telehealth may represent a “virtually perfect” solution. However, further implementations facing issues of quality, justice and healthcare equity are required to ensure that all patients receive the care they need.