A review of evaluation approaches for telemental health programs.

CONCLUSIONS: This review is the first to summarise approaches to evaluate telemental health programs. Strengths and weaknesses of the evaluation outcomes are discussed in this review, highlighting essential factors that should be taken into consideration when developing a standardised framework for the evaluation of future telemental health programs. KEY POINTS The methods used to evaluate telemental health programs are varied and no gold-standard for measurement of success exists. Clinical and non-clinical outcomes are being used to evaluate telemental health programs. More emphasis should be placed on feasibility measures such as cost-effectiveness. Therapeutic alliance should be a crucial part of evaluation of any telemental health program. Longer follow up times and larger sample sizes, as well as more diverse populations, are needed to generalise outcomes. Utilisation of clinical tools to assess success should be limited to standardised measures commonly used in clinical practice. PMID: 33243045 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract Source Type: research
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