Helping our patients with Telemental Health and Social Support in the times of COVID-19 and Social Distancing
Written by: Melba A. Hernandez-Tejada, PhD, DHA
Telemedicine (or in the case of psychological and psychiatric services: telemental health), has been around for some time now, and our research shows that it is just as good as in person care for mental health treatment. In addition, patients indicate that they are very satisfied with receiving treatment this way. Therapists are also rewarded by increased treatment attendance, and for patients who live far away, better retention and completion of mental health treatment. While the clinical outcome data and patient satisfaction ratings support home-based telemental health, insurers and administrators have been slow to incorporate it into practice. Sometimes, it takes events like the current pandemic to catapult us forward. It seems (fortunately, we think) that we are living a historic time where our methods of communicating with our patients, delivering our services, and offering care are going to change permanently.
Challenges can also sometimes be great opportunities because they make us think beyond the comfort of our routine about how we can help the community in need of our mental health services. We know that things like stigma, cost, and travel-time make it harder to obtain traditional in person mental health care. Telemental health, the value of which is currently recognized in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, may address these issues of access to care in a very simple, cost effective and comfortable manner, particularly for those living in rural areas, for those with limited time, for those with transportation issues, and for those who face stigma.
And with respect to televideo technology and the issue of social distancing and isolation: social support, particularly social support by peers has a tremendous impact on resilience, and improves patient outcomes in treatment. A form of social interaction that telemental health can support is positive role modeling via technology by a peer; that is, a person similar to the patient who offers encouragement through telephone or televideo systems to achieve key steps in treatment. Not only can peers demonstrate key coping strategies and offer support and encouragement to complete telemental health homework assignments, we have found that peers can enhance patient engagement with telehealth, particularly when the medium is new to the patient and when technology might not be patient’s first choice as a mental health delivery modality.
Our research shows that the combination of both telehealth delivered psychotherapy and social support from a peer helps our patients successfully complete treatment. This is particularly the case for our veteran and first responder patients. Of course, televideo technology such as Zoom, Webex, Skype, and others are not just for treatment. Televideo connections are becoming a way to maintain connections with others, to see our loved ones, to visit our friends, and to meet with coworkers. Like all news things, it takes some time getting used to, of course but challenges are opportunities. After this pandemic is over, we will continue to benefit from our newfound skills in establishing and maintaining social connections through technology.
Our team has a great deal of experience implementing telemental health in research projects, services grants and clinical practices in medical university settings, and the VA in the southeast and most recently here in the southwest. Please, do not hesitate to contact us and know more about how we are combining social connection with technology and at the same time we will like to hear from your successful stories.