Rapid telepsychology deployment during the COVID-19 pandemic: A special issue commentary and lessons from primary care psychology training.

OBJECTIVE: This article positions the special issue on telepsychology amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dramatically accelerated the adoption and dissemination of telepsychology. METHOD: The article makes general observations about the themes emerging in the special issue with considerations for application, training, theory-driven research, and policy. It then presents as a case example the rapid deployment during the pandemic of telepsychology doctoral training and services at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Primary Care Psychology Collaborative. RESULTS: Facilitators to VCU telepsychology deployment included trainee and supervisor resources, strong telepsychology training, and prior experience. Barriers to overcome included limited clinic capacity, scheduling, technology, and accessibility and diversity issues. Lessons learned involved presenting clinical issues, supervision, and working with children and adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Telepsychology is crucial for psychological service provision, during the COVID-19 pandemic more than ever, and that is unlikely to change as psychologists and patients increasingly continue to appreciate its value.

Olfaction in elderly and patients with Alzheimer's disease: Differing feedback conditions.

Objective: To determine the capability of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and age-matched controls to discriminate and recognize odorants equilibrated for strength and familiarity, and to determine if immediate corrective-feedback can improve performance in either task. Major results: No significant differences between elderly controls (EC) and AD patients were apparent for the discrimination task regardless of feedback condition. The EC group outperformed the AD group on the recognition task. Feedback enhanced EC group performance but failed to benefit the AD group. Conclusions: Early in the disease process, AD subjects have a deficit in processing olfactory cues at levels beyond that necessary for discrimination. This deficit is specifically related to the olfactory system and is in addition to any general cognitive deficits they may have. Feedback is ineffective for AD subjects but can greatly enhance the performance of the intact elderly on tasks requiring the verbal mediation of olfactory cues.