State of the Science: Using Digital Mental Health Interventions to Extend the Impact of Psychological Services

•DMHIs can expand the scale, efficiency, and effectiveness of psychological services.•Issues of reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance limit DMHI impact.•Gaps in DMHI research and practice are examined and potential solutions presented.•It is discussed how new technologies and advances in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavior therapy 2024-11, Vol.55 (6), p.1364-1379
Main Authors: Ramos, Giovanni, Hernandez-Ramos, Rosa, Taylor, Madison, Schueller, Stephen M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Digital Health - trends
digital mental health interventions
equity
human support
Humans
implementation
Mental Disorders - therapy
Mental Health
Mental Health Services - trends
review
Telemedicine
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•DMHIs can expand the scale, efficiency, and effectiveness of psychological services.•Issues of reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance limit DMHI impact.•Gaps in DMHI research and practice are examined and potential solutions presented.•It is discussed how new technologies and advances in the profession will shape DMHIs’ future.•Suggestions to advance DMHI equity in research and practice are provided. In recent years, digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) have emerged as a paradigm shift in care delivery that could expand the scale, efficiency, and effectiveness of psychological services. However, DMHI impact is constrained by issues related to limited reach, poor adoption, implementation barriers, and insufficient long-term maintenance. Organized by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance(RE-AIM) framework, this paper surveys the current state of DMHIs, highlighting research and practice gaps as well as potential strategies to move the field forward. Similarly, we discuss the role that emerging technologies and changes in the profession will play in shaping DMHIs in years to come. Finally, concrete and actionable steps to advance equity in the DMHI field are provided, with an emphasis on strategies to increase the representativeness of marginalized populations in DMHI research, the inclusion of these groups in the design and testing of DMHIs, and how to improve the contextual and cultural fit of DMHIs.
ISSN:0005-7894
1878-1888
1878-1888
DOI:10.1016/j.beth.2024.04.004