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Electronic mental health (e-mental health) technologies [18].

Electronic mental health (e-mental health) technologies [18].

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation measures and impacts, such as shelter-in-place orders, social isolation, restrictions on freedoms, unemployment, financial insecurity, and disrupted routines, have led to declines in mental health worldwide and concomitant escalating demands for mental health services. Under the circumstances, ele...

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... includes all technology-enabled therapies, including internet-based programs, mobile phone applications, telehealth and informational websites" (page 475 of Stone and Waldron) [17]. As a result of rapid technological developments over the past decade, the growing field of e-mental health covers far more than telehealth, with the field now ranging from online support groups and resources to digital assessment and treatment programs and, more recently, to therapeutic gaming and virtual reality (Figure 1) [18]. Telehealth and the associated terms telemedicine and telecare [19][20][21] historically focused on service provision via telephone, yet the technological advancement that has enabled telehealth to be delivered via communication software, including videoconferencing, has blurred the boundaries between eHealth, mobile health (mHealth), and telehealth. ...

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation measures and impacts, such as shelter-in-place orders, social isolation, restrictions on freedoms, unemployment, financial insecurity, and disrupted routines, have led to declines in mental health worldwide and concomitant escalating demands for mental health services. Under the circumstances, el...

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... However, no bibliometric analyses have been found that investigate digitalization across the entire field of medicine. Instead, most studies focus on specific subfields, such as cardiology [19], mental health [20][21][22], and other specialties [23][24][25][26]. This suggests a lack of comprehensive bibliometric approaches that examine the impact of digitalization on the entire medical sector, thus presenting an unexplored research opportunity in this context. ...
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Objectives: This study conducts a bibliometric analysis to map key trends in the digitalization of medicine, a rapidly evolving field that incorporates advancements such as artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and Big Data. The analysis aims to identify the most prolific authors, highly cited works, leading countries, and contributions from research institutions, while also exploring emerging trends through keyword analysis. Methods: A dataset comprising 2606 scientific papers was retrieved from the Web of Science database. The analysis was performed using bibliometric techniques and VOSviewer software to evaluate citation patterns, author productivity, country activity, and institutional contributions. Results: The findings reveal a substantial increase in research activity on the digitalization of medicine, with notable contributions from Germany, the USA, and China. These countries host leading academic institutions actively driving the field. Keyword analysis highlights emerging trends in artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and Big Data. Extensive international collaborations further underscore the global nature of this research domain. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution and current trends in the digitalization of medicine. Conclusions: It highlights the significant role of international collaboration and identifies key areas of development, offering valuable insights for future research directions in this dynamic sector.
... In this regard, several authors concur that this trend is likely to continue in the future, as more people become comfortable with the idea of accessing mental health care remotely (Fagherazzi et al., 2020;Rudd & Beidas, 2020). As a result, it is essential to leverage digital technologies to address mental health needs in the post-COVID-19 era as supported by Ellis et al., (2021). The researchers believe e-health tools will likely continue to play a significant role in the delivery of mental health services in the digital age as they demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of e-health tools. ...
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The recent COVID-19 pandemic significantly exacerbated mental health issues worldwide, with South African university staff facing unique stressors that led to the adoption of e-health tools for digital mental health services. This study explores the university staff experiences gained during COVID-19 pandemic in the provision of digital mental health services through e-health tools. We conducted a case study at a public university in Cape Town, South Africa complemented by a survey using quantitative methods. Data from 348 respondents were collected via voluntary response sampling and analysed with Statistical Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 28, employing exploratory factor analysis. High factor loadings above 0.4 confirmed significant contributions from seven items: perceived usefulness of e-health tools, perceived usefulness of social media, user experience and satisfaction, university commitment, variety of digital mental health services, post-COVID-19 delivery mode preference and ethical considerations. These seven items revealed that during COVID-19, e-health tools provided significant benefits to university staff including increased access to digital mental services. However, the study findings revealed that university staff were concerned about the lack of a legal framework during COVID-19, and the role of AI-powered mental health applications did not significantly influence their experiences during the pandemic. Our study provides theoretical insights into the effectiveness and perceived usefulness of e-health tools for digital mental health services during COVID-19, reinforcing their significance in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression while enhancing emotional resilience. Practically, our study findings suggest that universities should integrate e-health tools into the provision of digital mental health services given that these tools proved effective during COVID-19.
... As a result, it is essential to leverage digital technologies to address mental health needs in the post-COVID-19 era. This view is supported by Ellis et al. (2021). The researchers believe e-health tools will likely continue to play a significant role in the delivery of mental health services in the digital age as they demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of e-health tools. ...
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Background: The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) significantly contributed to mental health issues globally, and South African higher education institutions (HEIs) experienced unique stressors, prompting the adoption of e-health tools for digital mental health services (DMHS). Objectives: The study aimed to determine factors that influence future intention to adopt e-health tools for DMHS based on the experiences of university staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa (SA). Method: A case study research design, complemented by a survey was employed to collect data from 348 respondents using a voluntary response sampling technique from one South African HEI. Data were analysed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 28 and it involved frequency distribution, descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. Results: The results showed that the perceived usefulness of e-health tools, user experience and satisfaction, post-COVID-19 delivery mode preference and ethical considerations are significant determinants that influence the future adoption of e-health tools for DMHS. Conclusion: The study provides human resources professionals, university management, mental health practitioners and policymakers with actionable insights into the key determinants of the future adoption of e-health tools for DMHS. Contribution: Theoretically, the study contributes to the limited body of knowledge on the determinants that influence future intention to adopt e-health tools for DMHS, particularly in the context of university staff experiences during COVID-19 within the South African HE context. Practically, the results provide actionable insights that can be used to inform and guide policy-making within South African HEIs.
... Videoconferencing increased significantly in health and social care during the COVID-19 pandemic [21,22], due to the urgent need for alternatives to face-to-face consultations and interdisciplinary meetings. While therapists using videoconferencing during COVID-19 found their way through trial and error and with varying degrees of support and guidance [23], it is uncertain to what extent they will continue to use videoconferencing or whether they and their clients will prefer to go back to face-to-face consultations. ...
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Background Videoconferencing is considered an alternative to face-to-face consultations and a possibility to help overcome access-to-care barriers in mental health care services. Barriers to child and adolescent mental health services are particularly apparent in the case of children and adolescents receiving child welfare services. This scoping review aims to provide an overview of research on videoconferencing in the mental health treatment of children and adolescents receiving support from child welfare services. Methods This scoping review follows the review framework outlined by the Joanna Briggs Institute. The following databases were searched from January 2012 to April 2024: Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO (Ovid), CINAHL Plus, Social Services Abstracts (ProQuest), Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest), and Google Scholar. Results The search yielded 4322 unique records and resulted in the inclusion of 22 articles that met the inclusion criteria. The studies originated from Denmark, England, Australia, Norway, Canada, Chile, and the USA, and were grouped into four areas: (1) videoconferencing to increase access to mental health treatment for vulnerable groups (2) young people’s perspectives (3) videoconferencing in interdisciplinary collaborative meetings, and (4) use, awareness, and acceptance of videoconferencing among health and social care providers. Conclusions This scoping review shows that if videoconferencing in mental health care is to become an established and trusted method aimed at children and adolescents receiving child welfare services, several unresolved and potentially negative issues need attention and more research. This particularly applies to whether videoconferencing decreases or exacerbates inequalities in access to mental health services. A further question is whether new barriers are raised by screen-based treatment to threaten good therapeutic relationships, and by extension treatment quality and clinical outcomes.
... We used descriptive statistics to determine which journals published the most articles, and we also compared that number with the journal's impact factor per the Journal Citation Report and CiteScore [45]. Funding sources were analyzed descriptively to identify the primary funding sources. ...
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This bibliometric review aims to identify key actors in the behavioral health services availability/accessibility literature. Coalescing information about these actors could support subsequent research efforts to improve the availability and accessibility of behavioral health services. The authors used a scoping review method and a bibliometric approach. The articles came from Medline, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Articles were included if they assessed behavioral health service availability or accessibility quantitatively and were written in English. The final sample included 265 articles. Bibliometric data were extracted, coded, and verified. The authors analyzed the data using univariate and social network analyses. Publishing in this area has become more consistent and has grown since 2002. Psychiatric Services and Graduate Theses were the most frequently used publication venues. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental Health, and the Veterans Administration funded the most research. The most frequently used keyword was “health services accessibility.” The findings suggest that this literature is growing. There are a few clusters of researchers in this area. Government organizations primarily fund this research. The paper and supplementary materials list the top researchers, publication venues, funding sources, and key terms to promote further behavioral health availability/accessibility research. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44192-024-00068-3.
... Most bibliometric reviewers summarized literature subsets defined by eHealth user needs: promoting physical activity, healthy eating, and weight loss [9][10][11][12], preventing substance use [13], and providing e-mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic [14]. In addition, researchers reviewed digital technologies for health behavior change [15] and eHealth tools for anticoagulation management after cardiac valve replacement [16]. ...
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BACKGROUND Fueled by innovations in technology and health interventions to promote, restore, and maintain health, and safeguard well-being, the field of eHealth yielded significant scholarly output. OBJECTIVE To understand eHealth research trends and multidisciplinary contributions to eHealth, we obtained evidence from three corpora: 10,022 OpenAlex documents with eHealth in title, 5,000 most relevant eHealth articles according to the Web of Science (WoS) algorithm, and all available (n=1,885) WoS eHealth reviews. METHODS In VOSviewer, we built keyword and concept co-occurrence networks. The scholarship on eHealth was synthesized by analyzing clusters and adding custom overlays that linked technologies to stakeholders and their needs. A co-citation map of sources referenced in WoS reviews demonstrated scientific fields supporting eHealth. Multidisciplinary contributions were also analyzed as co-occurring hierarchical concepts used by OpenAlex to tag eHealth articles. RESULTS Common research directions included eHealth studies on 1) self-management and interventions; 2) telemedicine, telehealth and technology acceptance; 3) privacy, security, and design; 4) health information consumers’ literacy; 5) health promotion and prevention of disease through active lifestyle choices; 6) mHealth and digital health; 7) HIV prevention. Researchers studied mental health and health literacy of young people; physical activity and lifestyle changes to prevent obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes in adults and older adults; chronic disease, dementia, and pain management and medication adherence in older adults; cancer survivors and caregivers’ needs; as well as providers and health leaders. Echoing chronological developments in eHealth research, keywords internet (2017 mean publication year), telemedicine (2018), telehealth (2018), mHealth (2019), mobile health (2020), and digital health (2021) were strongly linked to literatures indexed with eHealth (2019) and e-Health (2017) keywords. Mean publication year was 2018.77 for eHealth articles and 2019.80 for eHealth reviews, a time lag of about 12 months. Given the volume of articles, review authors were more likely to focus on interventions and less likely to systematize research on eHealth and health literacy. Review authors cited a wide range of medical journals and journals specific to eHealth technologies, as well as journals in psychology, psychiatry, public health, epidemiology, health services, policy, education, health communication, and other fields. The Journal of Medical Internet Research stood out as the most cited source in eHealth reviews. An OpenAlex concept map confirmed these findings while also displaying a prominent role of political science and law, economics, nursing, business, and knowledge management. CONCLUSIONS Drawing upon contributions from many disciplines, the field of eHealth has evolved from studies of internet-enabled communication, telemedicine, and telehealth to research on mobile health and emerging digital health technologies.
... differences between HICs and LMICs in the adoption of digital services. While more than 80% of HICs digitalized their mental health services by 2020, less than 50% of LMICs had shifted to digital psychiatric services [42,87,88]. The contribution of middle-income countries to the global digitalization of mental health services was minimal, while there was hardly any data from low-income countries [85,86,88]. ...
... While more than 80% of HICs digitalized their mental health services by 2020, less than 50% of LMICs had shifted to digital psychiatric services [42,87,88]. The contribution of middle-income countries to the global digitalization of mental health services was minimal, while there was hardly any data from low-income countries [85,86,88]. Most of the studies from middle-income countries were from China or India. ...
... Most of the studies from middle-income countries were from China or India. These were usually descriptive reports of the development of guidelines, virtualization of psychiatric outpatient services, implementation of online interventions, and uncontrolled studies of digital interventions for different psychiatric disorders [88][89][90][91][92]. Lastly, it is uncertain whether the renewed interest in digital psychiatry has persisted after the pandemic. ...
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Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear the greater share of the global mental health burden but are ill-equipped to deal with it because of severe resource constraints leading to a large treatment gap. The remote provision of mental health services by digital means can effectively augment conventional services in LMICs to reduce the treatment gap. Digital psychiatry in LMICs has always lagged behind high-income countries, but there have been encouraging developments in the last decade. There is increasing research on the efficacy of digital psychiatric interventions. However, the evidence is not adequate to conclude that digital psychiatric interventions are invariably effective in LMICs. A striking development has been the rise in mobile and smartphone ownership in LMICs, which has driven the increasing use of mobile technologies to deliver mental health services. An innovative use of mobile technologies has been to optimize task-shifting, which involves delivering mental healthcare services in community settings using non-specialist health professionals. Emerging evidence from LMICs shows that it is possible to use digital tools to train non-specialist workers effectively and ensure that the psychosocial interventions they deliver are efficacious. Despite these promising developments, many barriers such as service costs, underdeveloped infrastructure, lack of trained professionals, and significant disparities in access to digital services impede the progress of digital psychiatry in LMICs. To overcome these barriers, digital psychiatric services in LMICs should address contextual factors influencing the delivery of digital services, ensure collaboration between different stakeholders, and focus on reducing the digital divide.
... Interestingly, there is a systematic review suggesting that people with mental disorders and general practitioners have a more favorable view of EMH than psychotherapists, which poses a barrier to its implementation (6). This result was also found in more recent studies (7), however COVID-19 has accelerated the use of EMH (8,9) and thus more positive attitudes towards online therapy were found (10). There are different theoretical models (e.g., Technology Acceptance Model, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology -UTAUT) to operationalize acceptance of EMH f.e. as the intention to use technology such as EMH in general or a specific EMH application. ...
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Theoretical background Research of E-Mental Health (EMH) interventions remains a much-studied topic, as does its acceptance in different professional groups as psychotherapists-in-training (PiT). Acceptance among clinicians may vary and depend on several factors, including the characteristics of different EMH services and applications. Therefore, the aims of this study were to investigate the factors that predict acceptance of EMH among a sample of PiT using a latent class analysis. The study will 1) determine how many acceptance prediction classes can be distinguished and 2) describe classes and differences between classes based on their characteristics. Methods A secondary analysis of a cross-sectional online survey was conducted. N = 216 PiT (88.4% female) participated. In the study, participants were asked to rate their acceptance of EMH, as operationalized by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, along with its predictors, perceived barriers, perceived advantages and additional facilitators. Indicator variables for the LCA were eight items measuring the UTAUT-predictors. Results Best model fit emerged for a two-class solution; the first class showed high levels on all UTAUT-predictors, the second class revealed moderate levels on the UTAUT-predictors. Conclusion This study was able to show that two classes of individuals can be identified based on the UTAUT-predictors. Differences between the classes regarding Performance Expectancy and Effort Expectancy were found. Interestingly, the two classes differed in theoretical orientation but not in age or gender. Latent class analysis could help to identify subgroups and possible starting points to foster acceptance of EMH.
... Additionally, our health care system experienced rapid digitalization. Many organizations developed mobile applications to maintain their treatment offers under the conditions of social distancing (8,9). This resulted in a sharp increase of available mental Health apps (10,11) as well as published evaluation studies (9). ...
... Many organizations developed mobile applications to maintain their treatment offers under the conditions of social distancing (8,9). This resulted in a sharp increase of available mental Health apps (10,11) as well as published evaluation studies (9). Most of the published studies and reviews of evaluated mental health apps focus on the adult population. ...
... Research on app-based interventions specifically for adolescents is still scarce. Nevertheless, Ellis et al. (9) reported that children and adolescents were identified as one of the most frequently targeted specific populations in published app evaluation studies during the pandemic. Comparing the number of mental health apps available in app stores and published app evaluation studies, a high discrepancy can be found (9)(10)(11). ...
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Background To bridge the gap in adolescent psychotherapy created by the increasing need for mental health interventions and the limited possibilities of in-person treatment during the pandemic, many health care providers opted to offer online mental health care programs. As a result, the number of mental health apps available in app stores experienced a sharp increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective The aim of the current review is to provide an overview of feasibility and effectiveness studies testing mobile applications in adolescent psychotherapy during the peak phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We conducted a literature search in Pubmed, PsychInfo, Google Scholar, OpenSIGLE and OpenGREY for papers published from June 2020 to June 2023. Studies were included if they evaluated app-based interventions intended for psychotherapeutic treatment and targeted adolescents between 12 and 27 years of age with symptoms of psychological disorders. The quality of each study was assessed using the Systematic Assessment of Quality in Observational Research (SAQOR). Effectiveness outcomes were analyzed by vote counting and calculating a binomial probability test. Results The search yielded 31 relevant studies that examined 27 different apps with a total of 1,578 adolescent participants. Nine articles were primary effectiveness studies and 22 focused on feasibility measures as primary outcome. There was evidence that mental health apps influenced adolescents' psychotherapy, with 83% of the studies with effectiveness outcomes favoring the intervention (p = 0.002). Sixty-one percent of the included studies were rated at low or very low quality. Conclusions The pandemic has given apps a firm and important role in healthcare that will probably continue to expand in the future. To ensure that mental health apps are truly effective and beneficial for adolescents' psychotherapy, we need a standardized measurement of quality features of mental health apps and higher quality app evaluation studies. Systematic review registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=406455, PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews [CRD42023406455].
... The recent COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted maternal mental health and has limited the access to mental health services, partly due to mobility restrictions (Ellis et al., 2021). In Chile, health services were strongly focused on the management of the COVID-19 crisis (MINSAL, 2022a) and the prevalence of symptoms of depression in first-time mothers dramatically increased (Coo et al., 2023). ...
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Objective Internet-based interventions may positively impact maternal symptoms of postnatal depression and anxiety. This study assessed the feasibility, acceptability, perceived usefulness, and preliminary effectiveness of an m-Health version of “What Were We Thinking?” (m-WWWT). Methods A mixed-methods with a 2-arm randomized parallel design was used. From a total of 477 women, 157 met the inclusion criteria. 128 first-time mothers of full-term infants, aged 4–10 weeks, who received health care at primary public health centers in Chile, were randomly assigned to the experimental (EG, n = 65) or control (CG, n = 63) groups; data of 104 of them (53 and 51, respectively) was analyzed. We used percentages and rates to measure feasibility outcomes and mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) and latent class analyses (LCA) to assess preliminary effectiveness. Participants completed questionnaires on mental health, social support, and maternal self-efficacy upon recruitment and 3 months after completing the intervention. For the qualitative component, 12 women from the EG were interviewed. Results Quantitative results show good feasibility outcomes, such as high recruitment (82%), low attrition (EG = 12% and CG = 17%), and high follow-up (EG = 97% and CG = 91%) rates. Qualitative results indicate high acceptability and perceived usefulness of m-WWWT. Mixed ANOVA did not show significant differences between the groups (all p >.05). However, multinomial regression analysis in LCA showed that women with low baseline symptoms of depression and anxiety benefit from the intervention (B = 0.43, 95% confidence interval 1.09–2.16). Conclusion m-WWWT is feasible to be implemented in Chile; future studies are needed to assess the intervention’s effectiveness.