scholarly journals An observational study of the impact of COVID-19 and the rapid implementation of telehealth on community mental health center providers

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa Sklar ◽  
Kendal Reeder ◽  
Kristine Carandang ◽  
Mark G. Ehrhart ◽  
Gregory A. Aarons
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Community Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Center ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
Community Mental Health Service ◽  
Mental Health Providers ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Mental Health Service Delivery ◽  
Provider Perspectives ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has remarkably altered community mental health service delivery through the rapid implementation of telehealth. This study reports provider perspectives on the impact that COVID-19 and the transition to telehealth had on their work and their ability to deliver evidence-based practices (EBPs). Methods Providers (n = 93) completed online surveys with quantitative measures and open-ended items exploring their reactions to COVID-19 and to the transition to providing services via telehealth. Results Perceptions of personal risk and rumination around COVID-19 were low, while telehealth was viewed positively by providers. Three major themes emerged regarding the major impacts of COVID-19 on work: (1) the altered nature of interactions between patient/client and provider due to telehealth implementation, (2) changes in provider expectations regarding productivity, and (3) challenges maintaining work-life balance. In regard to the major impacts of COVID-19 on EBP delivery, three themes emerged: (1) increased difficulty delivering certain therapies via telehealth, (2) potential limitations to session confidentiality, and (3) challenge of engaging children in telehealth. Conclusions In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, community mental health providers continued to engage with clients and deliver EBPs while navigating a number of changes related to the rapid transition to and implementation of telehealth. This study highlights the need for further work on what supports providers need to effectively engage with clients and deliver EBPs via telehealth, and has implications for how telehealth is sustained or de-implemented post-COVID-19.

scholarly journals An Observational Study of the Impact of COVID-19 and the Transition to Telehealth on Community Mental Health Center Providers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa Sklar ◽  
Kendal Reeder ◽  
Kristine Carandang ◽  
Mark G Ehrhart ◽  
Gregory A Aarons
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Community Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Center ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
Community Mental Health Service ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Mental Health Service Delivery ◽  
Provider Perspectives ◽  
Ebp Implementation ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has swiftly and remarkably altered community mental health service delivery and evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation. This study reports provider perspectives on the impact that COVID-19 had on their work and EBP implementation. Methods: Providers (n = 93) completed online surveys with quantitative measures and open-ended items targeting their responses and/or reactions to COVID-19, and to the transition to providing services via telehealth.Results: Perceptions of personal risk and rumination around COVID-19 were low, while telehealth was viewed positively by providers. Three major themes emerged regarding the major impacts of COVID-19 on work: 1) the altered nature of interactions between patient/client and provider, 2) changes in provider expectations regarding productivity, and 3) challenges maintaining work-life balance. In regard to the major impacts of COVID-19 on EBP implementation, three themes emerged: 1) increased difficulty delivering certain therapies via telehealth, 2) potential limitations to session confidentiality, and 3) challenge of engaging children in telehealth. Conclusions: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, community mental health providers continued to engage with clients and implement EBPs while navigating a number of changes related to the transition to telehealth. This study highlights the need for further work on what supports providers need to effectively engage with clients and deliver EBPs via telehealth and has implications for how telehealth is sustained or de-implemented in response to COVID-19.

scholarly journals Implementation Strategies to Promote Measurement-Based Care in Schools: Evidence from Mental Health Experts Across the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth H Connors ◽  
Aaron R Lyon ◽  
Kaylyn Garcia ◽  
Corianna Sichel ◽  
Sharon Hoover ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Implementation Strategies ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mental Health Providers ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Mental Health Service Delivery ◽  
Measurement Based Care ◽  
Patient Reported

Abstract Background: Despite an established, comprehensive taxonomy of implementation strategies, minimal guidance exists for how to select and adapt strategies to specific services and contexts. We employed a replicable method to identify the most feasible and important implementation strategies to increase mental health providers’ use of measurement-based care (MBC) in schools. MBC is the routine use of patient-reported progress measures throughout treatment to inform patient-centered, data-driven treatment adjustments. Methods: A national sample of 52 school mental health providers and researchers completed two rounds of modified Delphi surveys to rate the relevance, importance, and feasibility of 33 implementation strategies identified for school settings. Strategies were reduced and definitions refined using a multimethod approach. Final importance and feasibility ratings were plotted on “go-zone” graphs and compared across providers and researchers to identify top-rated strategies. Results: The initial 33 strategies were rated as “relevant” or “relevant with changes” to MBC in schools. Importance and feasibility ratings were high overall for both survey rounds; importance ratings (3.61 - 4.48) were higher than feasibility ratings (2.55 – 4.06) on average. Survey 1 responses resulted in a reduced, refined set of 21 strategies, and six were rated most important and feasible on Survey 2: 1) assess for readiness and identify barriers and facilitators; 2) identify and prepare champions; 3) develop a usable implementation plan; 4) offer a provider-informed menu of free, brief measures; 5) develop and provide access to training materials; and 6) make implementation easier by removing burdensome documentation tasks. Provider and researcher ratings were not significantly different, with a few exceptions: providers reported higher feasibility and importance of removing burdensome paperwork than researchers, and providers reported higher feasibility of train-the trainer approaches than researchers; researchers reported higher importance of monitoring fidelity than providers. Conclusions: The education sector is the most common setting for child and adolescent mental health service delivery in the United States. Effective MBC implementation in schools has the potential to elevate the quality of care received by many children, adolescents and their families. This empirically-derived, targeted list of six implementation strategies offers potential efficiencies for future testing of MBC implementation in schools.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health Providers in the Southeastern United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 114055
Author(s):  
Henry Slone ◽  
Arianna Gutierrez ◽  
Caroline Lutzky ◽  
Demi Zhu ◽  
Hannah Hedriana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Mental Health Providers ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
The Impact

Understanding Dropouts

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward B. Klein ◽  
Walter N. Stone ◽  
Mitchell W. Hicks ◽  
Ian L. Pritchard
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Center ◽  
Discontinue Treatment ◽  
Mental Health Providers ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Treatment Expectations ◽  
Staff Morale ◽  
Counselor Attitudes ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Overall Functioning

This study examined differences between clients who did or did not notify mental health providers of intent to discontinue treatment. Clients who did not notify were more likely to be women, attend less than four sessions, and rate their overall functioning lower. Both groups showed significant improvement, and self-reports were found to be a better indicator of progress than counselor estimates. Findings suggested that the adoption of mutual goals and empathetic counselor attitudes toward client treatment expectations might increase staff awareness of satisfied dropouts who have made therapeutic gains. Implications include benefits to staff morale and the larger Community Mental Health Center system in which almost half of all clients discontinue treatment without informing staff.

Client Contact in Self-Help Therapy for Anxiety and Depression: Necessary But Can Take a Variety of Forms Beside Therapist Contact

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
France Talbot
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Mental Health Service Delivery ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Multiple Trials ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Self-administered therapies (SATs) have been promoted as a way to increase access to evidence-based mental health services. Recent meta-analyses and literature reviews suggest that SATs with clinical guidance are more effective than SATs with no contact for the treatment of anxiety and depression. However, little attention has been paid to the role of nonguidance contact, contact that does not involve the provision of assistance in the application of specific therapy techniques such as emails to encourage treatment adherence. The present article examines the impact of nonguidance contact on the outcomes of SATs for anxiety and depression. Electronic databases were searched to identify studies conducted over the past two decades by independent research teams that have tested cognitive-behavioural SATs over multiple trials. Findings suggest that the involvement or guidance of a therapist is not essential for SATs to produce significant benefits as long as nonguidance contact is provided. It is suggested that even very minimal levels of nonguidance contact increase SAT's outcomes by motivating treatment engagement and improving adherence. The benefit of SATs that can be accessed directly by large numbers of individuals and that do not require therapist involvement to ensure efficacy can potentially significantly increase the cost effectiveness and quality of mental health service delivery.

The impact of an expanding community mental health service on patterns of bed usage: evaluation of a four-year period of implementation

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Häfner ◽  
J. Klug
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Service ◽  
Community Mental Health ◽  
Health Service ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Community Mental Health Service ◽  
Case Register ◽  
National Differences ◽  
The Impact

SynopsisIn the city of Mannheim the introduction of an extensive community mental health service has been shown, by means of case-register data over 4½ years, to have led to a considerable increase in utilization, mainly at the out-patient level of care. The rates of admission to hospital increased very little. Due to the simultaneous decline in long-term bed occupancy, the overall need for psychiatric beds remained stable at a rate of about 1·2/1000, a rate which is very low by international standards.The sharp decline in the ‘old’ long-stay population was followed by a smaller increase in ‘new’ long-stay patients which it has not been possible to prevent. These patients are, however, admitted for a long-term stay significantly later than formerly, and their diagnostic composition has changed significantly.The increase in the bed requirements for short- and medium-term stay patients resulted from different sources: an increasing morbidity in some groups of disorders, the rising utilization in case of emergencies and severe crises, and the transfer of long-stay patients to alternative care services. The level of these needs was very similar in Mannheim, Salford, Samsø and Camberwell, whereas the rates for long-term beds still show clear national differences.

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