scholarly journals Chatbots to Support Mental Wellbeing of People Living in Rural Areas: Can User Groups Contribute to Co-design?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Potts ◽  
E. Ennis ◽  
R. B. Bond ◽  
M. D. Mulvenna ◽  
M. F. McTear ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
External Resources ◽  
Poor Access ◽  
User Groups

AbstractDigital technologies such as chatbots can be used in the field of mental health. In particular, chatbots can be used to support citizens living in sparsely populated areas who face problems such as poor access to mental health services, lack of 24/7 support, barriers to engagement, lack of age appropriate support and reductions in health budgets. The aim of this study was to establish if user groups can design content for a chatbot to support the mental wellbeing of individuals in rural areas. University students and staff, mental health professionals and mental health service users (N = 78 total) were recruited to workshops across Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, Finland and Sweden. The findings revealed that participants wanted a positive chatbot that was able to listen, support, inform and build a rapport with users. Gamification could be used within the chatbot to increase user engagement and retention. Content within the chatbot could include validated mental health scales and appropriate response triggers, such as signposting to external resources should the user disclose potentially harmful information or suicidal intent. Overall, the workshop participants identified user needs which can be transformed into chatbot requirements. Responsible design of mental healthcare chatbots should consider what users want or need, but also what chatbot features artificial intelligence can competently facilitate and which features mental health professionals would endorse.

scholarly journals A Short Communication on Indoor-Based Therapies to Reduce Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-101
Author(s):  
Karam Daljit Singh ◽  
Rajoo Keeren Sundara ◽  
Muharam Farrah Melissa ◽  
Zulperi Dzarifah
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
General Public ◽  
Short Communication ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Mental Health Issues ◽  
Healthy Body

Preserving mental health during the COVID-19 crisis should be a priority for individuals worldwide. In this regard, mental health professionals should advise the general public on the actions/activities that they can take to prevent mental health issues from becoming the next pandemic. However, the general public should also actively take measures to improve their mental wellbeing. Music therapy, aromatherapy or indoor nature therapy may or may not have the potential to preserve mental wellbeing, but individuals should experiment with them to ascertain the effects on themselves. Moreover, the guidelines provided by WHO should also be adhered to, as a healthy mind starts with a healthy body.

Mapping mental health professionals’ perspectives and practices regarding the implementation of Digital Mental Health: a qualitative study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Mendes-Santos ◽  
Francisco Nunes ◽  
Elisabete Weiderpass ◽  
Rui Santana ◽  
Gerhard Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Intervention Delivery ◽  
Training Programmes

BACKGROUND Despite Digital Mental Health’s potential to provide cost-effective mental healthcare, its adoption in clinical settings is limited and little is known about the perspectives and practices of mental health professionals regarding its implementation or the factors influencing such perspectives and practices. OBJECTIVE The current study aimed at characterizing in-depth the perspectives and practices of mental health professionals regarding the implementation of Digital Mental Health and exploring the factors impacting such perspectives and practices. METHODS A qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews with Portuguese mental health professionals (N=13) - psychologists and psychiatrists – was conducted. Transcribed interviews were thematically analysed. RESULTS Mental health professionals deemed important or engaged in the following practices during the implementation of Digital Mental Health: i) Indication evaluation; ii) Therapeutic contract negotiation; iii) Digital psychological assessment; iv) Technology setup and management; and v) Intervention delivery and follow-up. Low threshold accessibility and professionals' perceived duty to provide support to their clients facilitated the implementation of Digital Mental Health. Conversely, the lack of structured intervention frameworks; the unavailability of usable, validated, and affordable technology; and the absence of structured training programmes, inhibited Digital Mental Health’s implementation by mental health professionals. CONCLUSIONS The publication of practice frameworks, the development of evidence-based technology, and the delivery of structured training seem key to expedite implementation and encourage the sustained adoption of Digital Mental Health by mental health professionals.

Mental health professionals discussing spiritual care for psychiatric outpatients: a qualitative study of multidisciplinary meetings

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Cusveller ◽  
Maarten van Garderen ◽  
Joan Roozemond-Kroon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Multidisciplinary Care ◽  
Psychiatric Outpatients ◽  
Insurance Reimbursement ◽  
Multidisciplinary Meetings ◽  
Group Interviews

Abstract Aim: To explore how mental health professionals address spiritual care for outpatients in weekly multidisciplinary care meetings (MDM), and to explore the barriers and facilitators in the ways health professionals address spiritual care in those meetings. Method: Two teams of mental health professionals providing care for psychiatric outpatients are included. Qualitative data were collected from audio recordings of multidisciplinary meetings and from focus-group interviews afterwards. Data were analysed using ‘open coding’. Results: Spiritual care was not frequently addressed mostly due to the requirements of the health insurance reimbursement system. Aspects of spirituality addressed in these meetings pertained mainly to meaningful daily activities. Addressing spiritual care was facilitated, on the other hand, by a holistic focus on health and recovery-oriented care. Conclusion: In ambulatory mental healthcare spirituality is sparsely addressed and, when addressed, few aspects of spirituality come into view. Facilitating healthcare professionals’ awareness of their clinical perspective is an essential step to improve spiritual care for psychiatric outpatients.

scholarly journals Services for ethnic minorities: a question of trust

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (11) ◽  
pp. 401-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Appleby
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Fair Treatment ◽  
Positive Message ◽  
Policy Priority

SummaryMental healthcare for ethnic minorities is a government policy priority. However, debate about how services should develop has been overshadowed by public criticism over high rates of admission and sectioning in some ethnic groups, the implication being that racism is rife in mental healthcare. These criticisms are headline-seeking, scientifically crude and unfair to mental health professionals. However, it is true that some minority communities are mistrustful of the services available. We need to overcome this mistrust with a positive message – and a promise of fair treatment.

Variables associated with perceived work role performance among mental healthcare professionals: The importance of team dynamics

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 413
Author(s):  
Marie-Josée Fleury ◽  
Guy Grenier ◽  
Jean-Marie Bamvita ◽  
Marie-Pierre Markon ◽  
François Chiocchio
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Work Role ◽  
Team Dynamics ◽  
Role Performance ◽  
Team Processes ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Emergent States

Rationale, aims, and objectives: Team effectiveness is associated not only with team design, but also with team dynamics such as work role performance. This study aimed to: (1) identify variables associated with perceived work role performance in a sample of 315 mental health professionals and (2) assess the contributions of team members and team characteristics; organizational and territorial context; team emergent states and team processes.Method: Mental health professionals from 4 health service networks in Quebec, Canada, completed a self-administered questionnaire consisting of standardized scales. Based on a conceptual framework adapted from the Input-Mediator-Output-Input (IMOI) model, independent variables were organized according to: (1) characteristics of team members and their teams, (2) organizational and territorial context, (3) team emergent states and (4) team processes. Their respective contributions to perceived work role performance were tested using a hierarchical regression analysis.Results: Perceived work role performance was associated with younger age (characteristics of team members and their team), familiarity between co-workers (Team emergent states) and belief in interprofessional collaboration, knowledge-sharing, team interdependence and team support (Team processes). Most variation in work role performance was explained by Team emergent states, followed by Team processes.Conclusion: This study tested a large number of variables associated with perceived work role performance in mental healthcare based on a comprehensive and innovative, theory-driven framework. The inclusion of mental health professionals from several types of teams representing mental health networks in different geographical areas added value to the study. The results confirm the need for managers to optimize team emergent states and team processes in order to improve work role performance. Initiatives such as training in teamwork and clinical guidelines are recommended.

scholarly journals Mental health in post-earthquake Nepal

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 520-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiran Thapa
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Community Mental Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Long Run

For two decades, Government of Nepal has made efforts to develop and maintain mental health professionals in all areas; however, much has to be done. This could be an opportunity for Nepal to redesign mental healthcare services at the community level. Primary mental health services integrated with community mental health could help children and families cope with and recover from mental illnesses in the long run.

Trauma Interventions and Systems Change in Rural Areas: The Role of the Juvenile Court Judge in Collaboration with Mental Health Professionals

2006 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUDGE THOMAS KLIEBERT ◽  
JOY D. OSOFSKY ◽  
HOWARD J. OSOFSKY ◽  
RICHARD N. COSTA ◽  
PATRICK DRENNAN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Juvenile Court ◽  
Systems Change ◽  
Court Judge

scholarly journals Features of Mental Health Service Provision During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Specialists Who Work with Suicide Prevention in Rural Areas

Psichologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Austėja Agnietė Čepulienė ◽  
Said Dadašev ◽  
Dovilė Grigienė ◽  
Miglė Marcinkevičiūtė ◽  
Greta Uržaitė ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Health Service Provision ◽  
Mental Health Service Provision

The COVID-19 pandemic can influence the situation of suicide rates and mental health in rural regions even more than in major cities. The aim of the current study was to explore the functioning of mental health service provision during the COVID-19 pandemic through interviews with mental health professionals and other specialists who work with suicide prevention in rural areas. Thirty specialists were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. The following codes were identified during the thematic analysis: providing help during the pandemic (mental health professionals and institutions adapted to the conditions of the pandemic, remote counselling makes providing help more difficult, the help is less reachable); help-seeking during the pandemic (people seek less help because of the pandemic, seeking remote help is easier, the frequency of help seeking didn’t change); the effects and governing of the pandemic situation (the pandemic can have negative effects on mental health; after the pandemic mental health might get worse; the governing of the pandemic situation in Lithuania could be more fluent). The current study reveals positive aspects of mental health professionals’ adaptivity during the pandemic, as well as severe problems which are related to the access to the mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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