Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic
Introduction: While online consultations have shown promise to be a means for the effective delivery of high-quality mental healthcare and the first implementations of these digital therapeutic contacts go back nearly two decades, uptake has remained limited over the years. The onset of the COVID-19...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Internet Interventions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214782922000781 |
| _version_ | 1798037404056027136 |
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| author | Tom Van Daele Kim Mathiasen Per Carlbring Sylvie Bernaerts Agostino Brugnera Angelo Compare Aranzazu Duque Jonas Eimontas David Gosar Lise Haddouk Maria Karekla Pia Larsen Gianluca Lo Coco Tine Nordgreen João Salgado Andreas R. Schwerdtfeger Eva Van Assche Sam Willems Nele A.J. De Witte |
| author_facet | Tom Van Daele Kim Mathiasen Per Carlbring Sylvie Bernaerts Agostino Brugnera Angelo Compare Aranzazu Duque Jonas Eimontas David Gosar Lise Haddouk Maria Karekla Pia Larsen Gianluca Lo Coco Tine Nordgreen João Salgado Andreas R. Schwerdtfeger Eva Van Assche Sam Willems Nele A.J. De Witte |
| author_sort | Tom Van Daele |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: While online consultations have shown promise to be a means for the effective delivery of high-quality mental healthcare and the first implementations of these digital therapeutic contacts go back nearly two decades, uptake has remained limited over the years. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered this relative standstill and created a unique turning point, with a massive amount of both professionals and clients having first hands-on experiences with technology in mental healthcare. Objective: The current study aimed to document the uptake of online consultations and explore if specific characteristics of mental health professionals across and beyond Europe could predict this. Methods: An international survey was designed to assess mental health professionals' (initial) experiences with online consultations at the onset of the pandemic: their willingness to make use of them and their prior and current experiences, alongside several personal characteristics. Logistic mixed-effects models were used to identify predictors of the use of online consultations, personal experience with this modality, and the sense of telepresence. Results: A total of 9115 healthcare professionals from 73 countries participated of which about two-thirds used online consultations during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. The current study identifies multiple determinants relating to the use and experience of online consultations, including the professionals' age, experience with the technology before the outbreak, the professional context, and training. Conclusions: Despite strong evidence supporting the relevance of training in digital mental health, this is clearly still lacking. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic presented a first, and potentially transformative, experience with online consultations for many healthcare professionals. The insights from this study can help support professionals and, importantly, (mental) healthcare organisations to create optimal circumstances for selective and high-quality continued use of online consultations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:26:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bea281520b9f4714aa500b02e120b6a3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2214-7829 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:26:07Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Internet Interventions |
| spelling | doaj.art-bea281520b9f4714aa500b02e120b6a32022-12-22T04:02:23ZengElsevierInternet Interventions2214-78292022-12-0130100571Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemicTom Van Daele0Kim Mathiasen1Per Carlbring2Sylvie Bernaerts3Agostino Brugnera4Angelo Compare5Aranzazu Duque6Jonas Eimontas7David Gosar8Lise Haddouk9Maria Karekla10Pia Larsen11Gianluca Lo Coco12Tine Nordgreen13João Salgado14Andreas R. Schwerdtfeger15Eva Van Assche16Sam Willems17Nele A.J. De Witte18Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, BelgiumDepartment of Clinical Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark; Centre for Digital Psychiatry, Mental Health Services of Southern Denmark, DenmarkDepartment of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, BelgiumDepartment of Human & Social Sciences - University of Bergamo, Bergamo, ItalyDepartment of Human & Social Sciences - University of Bergamo, Bergamo, ItalyUniversidad Internacional de Valencia, Valencia, Spain; Cibersalud, Mallorca, SpainDepartment of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LithuaniaDepartment of Child, Adolescent & Developmental Neurology, University Children's Hospital, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, SloveniaDepartment of Psychology, University of Rouen, FranceDepartment of Psychology, University of Cyprus, CyprusMental Health Services in the Region of Southern Denmark, Vejle, DenmarkDepartment of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement- University of Palermo, ItalyHaukeland University Hospital, University of Bergen, Bergen, NorwayUniversity of Maia, Portugal & Center of Psychology at University of Porto, PortugalInstitute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, AustriaThomas More University of Applied Sciences, BelgiumThomas More University of Applied Sciences, BelgiumThomas More University of Applied Sciences, BelgiumIntroduction: While online consultations have shown promise to be a means for the effective delivery of high-quality mental healthcare and the first implementations of these digital therapeutic contacts go back nearly two decades, uptake has remained limited over the years. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered this relative standstill and created a unique turning point, with a massive amount of both professionals and clients having first hands-on experiences with technology in mental healthcare. Objective: The current study aimed to document the uptake of online consultations and explore if specific characteristics of mental health professionals across and beyond Europe could predict this. Methods: An international survey was designed to assess mental health professionals' (initial) experiences with online consultations at the onset of the pandemic: their willingness to make use of them and their prior and current experiences, alongside several personal characteristics. Logistic mixed-effects models were used to identify predictors of the use of online consultations, personal experience with this modality, and the sense of telepresence. Results: A total of 9115 healthcare professionals from 73 countries participated of which about two-thirds used online consultations during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. The current study identifies multiple determinants relating to the use and experience of online consultations, including the professionals' age, experience with the technology before the outbreak, the professional context, and training. Conclusions: Despite strong evidence supporting the relevance of training in digital mental health, this is clearly still lacking. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic presented a first, and potentially transformative, experience with online consultations for many healthcare professionals. The insights from this study can help support professionals and, importantly, (mental) healthcare organisations to create optimal circumstances for selective and high-quality continued use of online consultations.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214782922000781Digital mental healthCOVID-19Online consultationsTelepresence |
| spellingShingle | Tom Van Daele Kim Mathiasen Per Carlbring Sylvie Bernaerts Agostino Brugnera Angelo Compare Aranzazu Duque Jonas Eimontas David Gosar Lise Haddouk Maria Karekla Pia Larsen Gianluca Lo Coco Tine Nordgreen João Salgado Andreas R. Schwerdtfeger Eva Van Assche Sam Willems Nele A.J. De Witte Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic Internet Interventions Digital mental health COVID-19 Online consultations Telepresence |
| title | Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic |
| title_full | Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic |
| title_short | Online consultations in mental healthcare: Modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic |
| title_sort | online consultations in mental healthcare modelling determinants of use and experience based on an international survey study at the onset of the pandemic |
| topic | Digital mental health COVID-19 Online consultations Telepresence |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214782922000781 |
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