E-mental health

Question 1

What are the major modes of e-mental health?

Answer 1

• Synchronous therapy: Live delivery of assessment, formulation, and treatment. Akin to traditional face-to-face therapy but delivered over telepsychology or live chat programs virtually.
• Synchronous with blended delivery: Primarily synchronous therapy, however with included components to supplement sessions which the client completes independently e.g. readings, online self-directly modules, apps for monitoring symptoms.
• Asynchronous: Fully self-guided therapy, where clients work through computerised structured programs at their own pace.
• Asynchronous with blended delivery: Primarily self-paced, where clients may also receive small support from a therapist in the form of phone calls, check in short sessions, etc. Useful for stepped care programs.

Question 2

What are the advantages of e-mental health programs?

Answer 2

• Accessibility
• Flexibility
• • cost effective
• Stepped-care/waitlist applications
• Provide anonymity
• Generalise into real world situations

Question 3

What are the disadvantages of e-mental health?

Answer 3

• Difficulty in risk management
• Increased interpersonal isolation
• Technical barriers
• Reduced tailoring in asynchronous
• blurring boundaries
• confidentiality issues

Question 4

What is a stepped care model?

Answer 4

• Adapting delivery of mental health care to the level of functioning:
  
  • 0: Minimal/ nil symptoms. Individual self-manages
  • 1: Mild symptoms: GP help, online self-help.
  • 2: Moderate symptoms: Psychologist, GP, Self. Guided/blended treatment,
  • 3: Severe. Psychiatrist included. medication, therapy, management
  • 4: Ext Severe. Inpatient, integrated care team.