Amit Baumel

University of Haifa | haifa · Department of Community Mental Health

Most measures designed to assess eHealth therapeutic alliance (ETA) derive from conventional factors of therapeutic alliance. This study examined whether integrating subscales developed directly to capture therapeutic alliance facets that are unique to the digital space contribute above conventional factors to understanding ETA. The eHealth Therape...

At a time, in which people are more and more suffering from lifestyle-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, or obesity, changing health behavior and preserving a healthy lifestyle are salient factors of any public health effort. Hence, research on predictors and pathways of health behavior change is increasingly important. Fol...

NAVIGATE is a coordinated specialty care program for people who have experienced first-episode psychosis. The current study aims to explore the unmet needs of NAVIGATE stakeholders for the purpose of guiding the optimization of the program. Data from 24 semistructured interviews with NAVIGATE clients, family caregivers, and practitioners were condu...

Background: There is a need to develop new ways to reach and engage people at risk for suicidal behavior. Suicide prevention outreach on social media (SPOSM) represents a promising strategy, and trained volunteers could potentially provide the needed human resources. Aims: We aimed to investigate users' perception of SPOSM delivered by volunteers o...

Background Mental illness in transition age youth is common and treatment initiation is often delayed. Youth overwhelmingly report utilizing the Internet to gather information while psychiatric symptoms emerge, however, most are not yet ready to receive a referral to care, forestalling the established benefit of early intervention. Methods A digit...

Over the past 15 years, researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers have observed poor program usage of unguided e-mental health interventions in real-world settings. This paper proposes that focusing on the impact of program usage, however, distracts us from the mechanism of change that is linked with the targeted clinical outcomes: the incorpor...

Even though e-mental health services have the potential to increase reach to evidence based care, the public has tended to view them less favorably than in-person therapy. This study examined whether individual intentions for using psychotherapy are influenced by the service’s target—supporting oneself or supporting a loved-one. The sample consiste...

Background Digital health interventions (DHIs) are efficacious for several mental disorders in youth; however, integrated, evidence-based knowledge about the mechanisms of change in these interventions is lacking. Objective This systematic review aims to comprehensively evaluate studies on mediators and mechanisms of change in different DHIs for c...

While the efficacy of Internet- and mobile-based interventions (IMIs) for treating anxiety disorders is well established, there is no comprehensive overview about the underlying therapeutic processes so far. Thus, this systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated research on mediators and mechanisms of change in IMIs for adult anxiety disorders (P...

BACKGROUND Digital health interventions (DHIs) are efficacious for several mental disorders in youth; however, integrated, evidence-based knowledge about the mechanisms of change in these interventions is lacking. OBJECTIVE This systematic review aims to comprehensively evaluate studies on mediators and mechanisms of change in different DHIs for c...

The majority of digital health interventions lean on the promise of bringing health and self-care into people’s homes and hands. However, these interventions are delivered while people are in their triggering environments, which places competing demands on their attention. Individuals struggling to change or learn a new behavior have to work hard t...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/25018.].

Over the last decades, ambulatory psychosocial interventions aimed at treating child externalized behavior problems have been developed and tested. In recent years, however, it has become clear that the reported effects of psychotherapies have been considerably overestimated due to publication bias. In addition, previous meta-analyses of psychosoci...

BACKGROUND Impulsivity is a hallmark feature of self-regulation failures that lead to poor health decisions and outcomes, making understanding and treating impulsivity one of the most important constructs to tackle in building a culture of health. Despite a large literature base, impulsivity measurement remains difficult due to the multi-dimensiona...

Background The classic Marshmallow Test, where children were offered a choice between one small but immediate reward (eg, one marshmallow) or a larger reward (eg, two marshmallows) if they waited for a period of time, instigated a wealth of research on the relationships among impulsive responding, self-regulation, and clinical and life outcomes. Im...

UNSTRUCTURED The majority of digital health interventions lean on the promise of bringing health and self-care into people’s homes and hands. However, these interventions are delivered while people are in their triggering environment, which places competing demands on their attention. Individuals struggling to change or learn a new behavior have to...

UNSTRUCTURED A significant amount of people who are interested in publicly available digital mental health interventions are not investing as much effort in these interventions as hoped or intended by intervention developers. Digital micro-interventions are highly focused interventions delivered in the context of a person’s daily life with little b...

Although many people access publicly available digital behavioral and mental health interventions, most do not invest as much effort in these interventions as hoped or intended by intervention developers, and ongoing engagement is often low. Thus, the impact of such interventions is minimized by a misalignment between intervention design and user b...

Background Recent studies have utilized available online data to examine the impact of depression- and anxiety-related apps that incorporate evidence-based techniques; however, the impact of apps incorporating non-evidence-based techniques is unknown. Understanding this impact is important in order to assess the potential benefits or harm from thei...

Trial settings that include proactive recruitment, human contact, and assessment procedures may substantially impact the way users engage with unguided e-mental health programs and the generalizability of reported findings. This study examined the impact of trial setting on user behavior by directly comparing reported user engagement in trial-based...

At a time, in which people are more and more suffering from lifestyle-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, or obesity, changing health behavior and preserving a healthy lifestyle are salient factors of any public health effort. Hence, research on predictors and pathways of health behavior change is increasingly important. Fol...

Background: Understanding patterns of real-world usage of mental health apps is key to maximizing their potential to increase public self-management of care. Although developer-led studies have published results on the use of mental health apps in real-world settings, no study yet has systematically examined usage patterns of a large sample of ment...

BACKGROUND Understanding patterns of real-world usage of mental health apps is key to maximizing apps’ potential to increase the public self-management of care. While developer-led studies have published results on the utilization of mental health apps deployed in real-world settings, to the best of our knowledge, no study has systematically examin...

Background: The literature suggests that the product design of self-guided electronic health (eHealth) interventions impacts user engagement. Traditional trial settings, however, do not enable the examination of these relationships in real-world use. Objective: This study aimed to examine whether the qualities of product design, research evidence,...

BACKGROUND The literature suggests that the product design of self-guided electronic health (eHealth) interventions impacts user engagement. Traditional trial settings, however, do not enable the examination of these relationships in real-world use. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to examine whether the qualities of product design, research evidence, a...

Over the years, evidence-based treatments for children with disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs; e.g., conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder) have been developed, however, there is not much information about the treatment children receive in usual mental healthcare settings. This study examined the common treatment provided in US ambulato...

Background Identifying and engaging youth with early stage psychotic disorders in order to facilitate timely treatment initiation remains a major public health challenge. While advertisers routinely use the internet to directly target consumers, limited efforts have focused on applying available technology to proactively encourage help seeking in t...

Background Peer support is considered to be an important framework of support for mothers experiencing postpartum depression (PPD); however, some barriers exist that may limit its use including peer availability and mothers’ lack of time due to child care. Objective This non-randomized study was designed to examine the feasibility, acceptance, and...

Technology provides an unparalleled opportunity to remove barriers to earlier identification and engagement in services for mental and addictive disorders by reaching people earlier in the course of illness and providing links to just-in-time, cost-effective interventions. Achieving this opportunity, however, requires stakeholders to challenge unde...

It is often difficult for health providers to evaluate available e-mental health products because of the need to balance between obtaining reliable evidence of efficacy and the burdens associated with standard empirical evaluation. This paper makes the case for using a feasible method to investigate available e-mental health programs in order to pr...

Triple P Online (i.e., TPOL; www2.tripleponline.net) is an online self-help parent training program aimed at reducing child behavior problems through “positive parenting practices”—available at time of review for $79.95. TPOL is comprised of 8 video-based modules that also incorporate in-session activities and homework. Randomized control trials ha...

The purpose of this review was to identify and classify key criteria concepts related to the evaluation of user-facing eHealth programs. In line with the PRISMA statement methodology, computer searches of relevant databases were conducted for studies published between January 1, 2000 and March 1, 2016 that contained explicit quality criteria relate...

Objective: Identifying and engaging youth with early-stage psychotic disorders in order to facilitate timely treatment initiation remains a major public health challenge. Although advertisers routinely use the Internet to directly target consumers, limited efforts have focused on applying available technology to proactively encourage help-seeking...

Background: Individuals’ engagement with behavioral eHealth interventions outside of traditional settings must compete with other events in their daily lives, making poor adherence a common issue. Existing frameworks have identified a range of intervention design features that may facilitate adherence; however, empirical data are lacking on whether...

This study investigated attachment styles as contributors to dispositional envy and to the negative emotions being elicited when an individual confronts a deficiency-context situation. A total of 124 undergraduates completed self-report assessments of their attachment orientation, self-esteem, tendency towards social comparison and dispositional en...

Digital triggers such as text messages, emails, and push alerts are designed to focus an individual on a desired goal by prompting an internal or external reaction at the appropriate time. Triggers therefore have an essential role in engaging individuals with digital interventions delivered outside of traditional health care settings, where other e...

Objective: To systematically review digitally assisted parent training programs (DPTs) targeting the treatment of children and adolescents with disruptive behaviors. Data sources: A search was conducted using PubMed, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases for peer-reviewed studies published between January 1, 2000, and March 1, 2016. Reference lists of...

Background Studies of criteria-based assessment tools have demonstrated the feasibility of objectively evaluating eHealth interventions independent of empirical testing. However, current tools have not included some quality constructs associated with intervention outcome, such as persuasive design, behavior change, or therapeutic alliance. In addit...

Introduction Recent evidence suggests that text messaging may help to reduce problem drinking as an extension to in-person services, but very little is known about the effectiveness of remote messaging on problem drinking as a stand-alone intervention, or how different types of messages may improve drinking outcomes in those seeking to moderate the...

SMSMuenchconsortchecklist. (PDF)

SMSProtocolMuench. (PDF)

Objectives: Digital-based parent training (DPT) programs for parents of children with disruptive behaviors have been developed and tested in randomized trials. The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the efficacy of these programs versus a control condition. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and random effects meta-analysis of...

Objective: The authors examined patients' acceptance of the Health Technology Program (HTP), an integrative approach to relapse prevention after hospitalization of adults with schizophrenia or related disorders. The program combines use of digital tools with support from a mental health technology coach (MHTC). Methods: Patients with schizophren...

Background: Perinatal depression and anxiety are common and debilitating conditions. Novel, cost effective services could improve the uptake and the impact of mental health resources among women who suffer from these conditions. E-mental health products are one example of such services. Many publically available e-mental health products exist, but...

The aim of this study was to describe the adaptation of a program designed to leverage 7 Cups of Tea (7Cups), an available online platform that provides volunteer (i.e., listener) based emotional support, to complement ongoing treatment for people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The adaptation of the program was based on two stages: First, f...

In recent years, the number of available eHealth interventions aimed at treating behavioral and mental health challenges has been growing. From the perspective of health care providers, there is a need for eHealth interventions to be evaluated prior to clinical trials and for the limited resources allocated to empirical research to be invested in t...

Background: This manuscript assesses the use of the Child Attachment Interview (CAI) in a sample of Israeli Jewish children in middle childhood in order to add to empirical data on this measure. Method: Forty-one children between the ages of 7 and 13 were consecutively recruited to the study. The clinical sample included 29 children diagnosed wi...

Background: Technology could answer the substantial need in human resources available for supporting those who suffer from mental illness, by providing scalable methods to train and engage non-professionals to those who need their support. 7 Cups of Tea (7COT) platform was chosen for this study, because it provides a good case study for examining...

The behavior of concerned significant others (CSOs) can have a measurable impact on the health and wellness of individuals attempting to meet behavioral and health goals, and research is needed to better understand the attributes of text-based CSO language when encouraging target significant others (TSOs) to achieve those goals. In an effort to inf...

The behavior of concerned significant others (CSOs) can have a measurable impact on the health and wellness of individuals attempting to meet behavioral and health goals, and research is needed to better understand the attributes of text-based CSO language when encouraging target significant others (TSOs) to achieve those goals. In an effort to inf...

The behavior of concerned significant others (CSOs) can have a measurable impact on the health and wellness of individuals attempting to meet behavioral and health goals, and research is needed to better understand the attributes of text-based CSO language when encouraging target significant others (TSOs) to achieve those goals. In an effort to inf...

The current study addresses the link between attachment styles and manifestations of malicious envy. One hundred twenty-four Israeli undergraduate students completed measures of attachment styles, self-esteem, social comparison, and participated in a subject manipulation tapping malicious envy using tools developed for the present study. These meas...