scholarly journals Consensus Among International Ethical Guidelines for the Provision of Videoconferencing-Based Mental Health Treatments

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. e17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula M Sansom-Daly ◽  
Claire E Wakefield ◽  
Brittany C McGill ◽  
Helen L Wilson ◽  
Pandora Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Practice Guidelines ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Professional Organizations ◽  
Special Populations ◽  
International Consensus ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines ◽  
Mental Health Treatments

Background Online technologies may reduce barriers to evidence-based mental health care, yet they also create numerous ethical challenges. Recently, numerous professional organizations and expert groups have produced best-practice guidelines to assist mental health professionals in delivering online interventions in an ethically and clinically sound manner. However, there has been little critical examination of these international best-practice guidelines regarding appropriate electronic mental health (e-mental health) service delivery via technologies such as videoconferencing (including Skype), particularly for specific, vulnerable populations. Further, the extent to which concordance exists between these guidelines remains unclear. Synthesizing this literature to provide clear guidance to both mental health professionals and researchers is critical to ensure continued progress in the field of e-mental health. Objective This study aims to review all currently available ethical and best-practice guidelines relating to videoconferencing-delivered mental health treatments in order to ascertain the recommendations for which international consensus could be found. Additionally, this review examines the extent to which each set of guidance addresses several key special populations, including children and young people, and populations living with illness. Methods This systematic review examined guidelines using a two-armed search strategy, examining (1) professional organizations’ published guidance; and (2) MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and EMBASE for the past ten years. In order to determine consensus for best-practice, a recommendation was considered "firm" if 50% or more of the reviewed guidelines endorsed it and "tentative" if recommended by fewer guidelines than these. The professional guidelines were also scored by two raters using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE-II) criteria. Results In the study, 19 guidelines were included, yielding 11 specific "firm" and a further 123 "tentative-level" recommendations regarding the appropriateness of e-mental health, competence, legal and regulatory issues, confidentiality, consent, professional boundaries, and crisis management. International consensus yielded firm guidance across almost all areas except professional boundaries and some aspects of determining the appropriateness of e-mental health. Few guidelines specifically addressed special populations. Overall guideline quality varied; however, 42% (8/19) of the guidelines scored at least 5 out of 7. Conclusions This synthesis of guidelines provides a foundation for clinicians and researchers utilizing e-mental health worldwide. The lack of specific guidance relating to special populations is an area warranting further attention in order to strengthen mental health professionals’ and researchers’ capacity to ethically and effectively tailor e-mental health interventions to these groups.

scholarly journals Emotional abuse and neglect in a clinical setting: challenges for mental health professionals

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Margaret DeJong ◽  
Simon Wilkinson ◽  
Carmen Apostu ◽  
Danya Glaser
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Emotional Abuse ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Mental Health Workers ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines ◽  
Abuse And Neglect ◽  
The Common

Summary This article addresses some of the common uncertainties and dilemmas encountered by both adult and child mental health workers in the course of their clinical practice when dealing with cases of suspected emotional abuse or neglect (EAN) of children. We suggest ways of dealing with these according to current best practice guidelines and our own clinical experience working in the field of child maltreatment.

scholarly journals Safe clinical photography: best practice guidelines for risk management and mitigation

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-304
Author(s):  
Rajiv Chandawarkar ◽  
Prakash Nadkarni
Keyword(s):  
Practice Guidelines ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Professional Organizations ◽  
Clinical Photography ◽  
Data Breaches ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines ◽  
Risk Mitigation Strategies

Clinical photography is an essential component of patient care in plastic surgery. The use of unsecured smartphone cameras, digital cameras, social media, instant messaging, and commercially available cloud-based storage devices threatens patients’ data safety. This paper Identifies potential risks of clinical photography and heightens awareness of safe clinical photography. Specifically, we evaluated existing risk-mitigation strategies globally, comparing them to industry standards in similar settings, and formulated a framework for developing a risk-mitigation plan for avoiding data breaches by identifying the safest methods of picture taking, transfer to storage, retrieval, and use, both within and outside the organization. Since threats evolve constantly, the framework must evolve too. Based on a literature search of both PubMed and the web (via Google) with key phrases and child terms (for PubMed), the risks and consequences of data breaches in individual processes in clinical photography are identified. Current clinical-photography practices are described. Lastly, we evaluate current risk mitigation strategies for clinical photography by examining guidelines from professional organizations, governmental agencies, and non-healthcare industries. Combining lessons learned from the steps above into a comprehensive framework that could contribute to national/international guidelines on safe clinical photography, we provide recommendations for best practice guidelines. It is imperative that best practice guidelines for the simple, safe, and secure capture, transfer, storage, and retrieval of clinical photographs be co-developed through cooperative efforts between providers, hospital administrators, clinical informaticians, IT governance structures, and national professional organizations. This would significantly safeguard patient data security and provide the privacy that patients deserve and expect.

scholarly journals Mass Violence and Early Mental Health Intervention: A Proposed Application of Best Practice Guidelines to Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Attacks

2004 ◽  
Vol 169 (8) ◽  
pp. 575-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elspeth Cameron Ritchie ◽  
Matthew Friedman ◽  
Patricia Watson ◽  
Robert Ursano ◽  
Simon Wessely ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Practice Guidelines ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Health Intervention ◽  
Mental Health Intervention ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines

Best practice guidelines for the administration of intramuscular injections in the mental health setting

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianne Wynaden ◽  
Ian Landsborough ◽  
Sunita McGowan ◽  
Zena Baigmohamad ◽  
Michael Finn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Practice Guidelines ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Mental Health Setting ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines ◽  
Intramuscular Injections

Promoting mental health minimising mental illness and integrating through education (PROMISE)

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 533-533
Author(s):  
P. Flores ◽  
R. Izquierdo ◽  
E. Leahy ◽  
C. Masferrer ◽  
P. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Practice Guidelines ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Mental Health Promotion ◽  
Green Paper ◽  
Healthy Living ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines

With the implementation of the European Green Paper on Mental Health, and the development of the Mental Health Pact, the strategic importance of Mental Health promotion and illness reduction as keystones of a European mental health policy and practice has never been greater.The PROMISE project is a EU project and is financed by the European Commission, Directorate General for Health and Consumers, DG Sanco. It aims to develop and disseminate guidelines for generic training and education with respect to Mental Health Promotion and Illness Reduction. The best practice guidelines will specifically focus on the prevention of suicide, depression, and alcohol and drug abuse, and the promotion of healthy living.A specific innovation is the involvement of mental health service users as non-traditional actors by developing multi-disciplinary training guidelines and training programs with a special emphasis on positive mental health, healthy living, diet and exercise project.Project partners are all ‘multiplier’ organizations from 8 different European countries and have extensive previous expertise in their designated roles.The role of Parc de Salut Mar, Barcelona PROMISE is: Identify best practice media guidelines for engaging press and media with the mental health promotion agenda through the use of positive role models. Monitor the implementation of the best practice guidelines through the design and development of local case studies in 7 sites across Europe.Outcomes are an integrated and comprehensive set of training guidelines and model training programs accessed through an interactive website, endorsed by European level professional body and university networks.

Standards and Guidelines for the Development of Diagnostic Nomenclatures and Alternatives in Mental Health Research and Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Kamens ◽  
Lisa Cosgrove ◽  
Shannon M. Peters ◽  
Nev Jones ◽  
Elizabeth Flanagan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Alternative Systems ◽  
Standards And Guidelines

Diagnostic nomenclatures have been central to mental health research and practice since the turn of the 20th century. In recent years, an increasing number of mental health professionals have proposed that a paradigm shift in diagnosis is inevitable. The Standards and Guidelines for the Development of Diagnostic Nomenclatures and Alternatives in Mental Health Research and Practice are intended to serve as a reference for the development of scientifically sound and ethically principled diagnostic nomenclatures and descriptive alternatives. The Standards and Guidelines are divided into four sections that address the purposes; development; type, content, and structure; and scientific grounding of nomenclatures and alternative systems. They are intended to represent best practice in the classification and description of emotional distress for multidisciplinary mental health professionals.

Guidelines for Regulating or Rating Mental Health Mobile Applications: A Systematic Review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qijin Cheng ◽  
Zirui Chen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Professional Organizations ◽  
Health Apps ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Set Up

BACKGROUND Increasing number of mobile applications (apps) have been released to the market to address mental health needs; however, their quality varies. Mental health professionals have been advocating to set up regulating policies or rating guidelines to facilitate users to make informed choice. OBJECTIVE The study aims to map out the landscape and ecosystem of existing regulating policies and rating guidelines concerning mental health apps, streamline core rating criteria, and identify what knowledge and policy gaps exist. METHODS A systematic review was conducted on both English and Chinese literature. Not only academic publication databases but also popular search engines were searched to identify relevant policies or guidelines. Eligible publications were analyzed to identify key stakeholders in the ecosystem of regulating and rating mental health apps, and common approaches and criteria of the regulating or rating. What limitations exist and what improvement should be achieved in order to make good use of mental health apps were then discussed. RESULTS 56 articles were found to meet our inclusion criteria, covering 31 sets of regulating policies, rating protocols, or specific recommendations. Key stakeholders include app developers, governments, app stores, mental health professionals, and individual users. Only very few countries have released specific regulation policies for mental health apps, whereas app stores were almost absent on this matter. Mental health professionals have been advocating to set up rating guidelines but they did not always engage app developers or ordinary users. Regulation approach is to extend existing regulations on medical devices to mental health apps that self-claim for medical use. Quality rating approach is using either a checklist or a scoring scheme to rate mental health apps’ compliance with some criteria. Specific criteria include privacy and data protection, protecting user safety and minimize risks, evidence-based, usability and front-end accessibility, system interoperability, technical stability, cost, and information timeliness. CONCLUSIONS Only very few jurisdictions and professional organizations in the world have released regulating policies or rating guidelines on mental health apps, which can serve as a basis for other policymakers and professional organizations to adapt. The current regulating policies are rather vague with their applicable scope, whereas the current rating guidelines have relatively high requirement with raters’ capability. Future development needs to address the two major limitations. CLINICALTRIAL Nil.

scholarly journals Enhancing the Cultural Relevance of Empirically-Supported Mental Health Interventions

2008 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyaien O. Conner ◽  
Nancy K. Grote
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Clinical Social Work ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Mental Health Interventions ◽  
Mental Health Treatments

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has become a hot topic in clinical social work and other mental health disciplines. Mental health professionals have called attention to the need for clinical decision-making to be based on the best available empirically supported treatments integrated with client preferences, values, and circumstances. This movement has greatly stimulated mental health professionals to develop, test, and adopt efficacious treatments for clients with psychological problems, but what is missing in the literature is the cultural context in which these treatments must be implemented to be effective with racial/ethnic minority populations. Herein, we utilize the culturally centered framework of Bernal, Bonilla and Bellido (1995) to examine its utility in assessing to what extent empirically supported mental health treatments incorporate culturally relevant components.

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