Videoconference vs. Faceto-Face Delivery of Behavior Therapy for Youths with Tourette Syndrome in the Time of COVID-19: Follow-up over 6 months.

Background: Tourette Syndrome (TS) a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder with a worldwide prevalence of about 0.3–1% of the population. Research studies have explored the possible benefits of digital health interventions (DHIs) for the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, including tics and associated comorbidities, especially in the time of COVID-19 global pandemic. Objective: To evaluate the phenomenology and course of a cohort of TS patients, treated with online remote behavior therapy, compared with face-to-face behavior therapy. Methods: Data were collected to investigate the course and phenomenology of patients’ tics, presence of comorbidities, overall treatment approaches. Among the clinical cohort, modifications in symptoms severity were further evaluated at 6-month follow-up, through the administration of Yale Global Tic Severity Rating Scale (YGTSS), Premonitory Urge for Tic Scale (PUTS), Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale for Children (CY-BOCS), Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), Child Depression Inventory (CDI), and the Conners’ Parent Rating Scale (CPRS). Results: Online remote and face-to-face behavior therapy are both effective in the treatment of tics and co-occurring disorders. Both groups showed an improvement in the severity of tics and associated symptoms, as assessed by neuropsychological findings. This improvement persisted over time, at least until the end of the follow-up period (6 months). Conclusions: This study suggest that online remote behavior therapy is a promising and effective tool for patients affected by tic disorders. Despite this findings, further studies are needed to compare this alternative treatment option to traditional face-to-face care.