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. 2019 Aug 17;8(8):1239.
doi: 10.3390/jcm8081239.

From Research to Practice: Ten Lessons in Delivering Digital Mental Health Services

Nickolai Titov  1 , Heather D Hadjistavropoulos  2 , Olav Nielssen  3 , David C Mohr  4 , Gerhard Andersson  5   6 , Blake F Dear  3
Affiliations

From Research to Practice: Ten Lessons in Delivering Digital Mental Health Services

Nickolai Titov et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

There is a large body of research showing that psychological treatment can be effectively delivered via the internet, and Digital Mental Health Services (DMHS) are now delivering those interventions in routine care. However, not all attempts to translate these research outcomes into routine care have been successful. This paper draws on the experience of successful DMHS in Australia and Canada to describe ten lessons learned while establishing and delivering internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) and other mental health services as part of routine care. These lessons include learnings at four levels of analysis, including lessons learned working with (1) consumers, (2) therapists, (3) when operating DMHS, and (4) working within healthcare systems. Key themes include recognising that DMHS should provide not only treatment but also information and assessment services, that DMHS require robust systems for training and supervising therapists, that specialist skills are required to operate DMHS, and that the outcome data from DMHS can inform future mental health policy. We also confirm that operating such clinics is particularly challenging in the evolving funding, policy, and regulatory context, as well as increasing expectations from consumers about DMHS. Notwithstanding the difficulties of delivering DMHS, we conclude that the benefits of such services for the broader community significantly outweigh the challenges.

Keywords: anxiety disorders; delivery; depression; implementation; internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy; psychological treatment; routine care.

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Conflict of interest statement

H.D.H. is funded by Saskatchewan Ministry of Health to operate the Online Therapy Unit. Research conducted by the Unit is currently funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (152917), the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, and the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research. Funders had no involvement in the design of the paper, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data. N.T. and B.F.D. are funded by the Australian Government to operate the national MindSpot Clinic. O.N. is a member of a Lundbeck advisory board for an antipsychotic medication. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests. This paper was investigator initiated. It was funded by Departmental funds from the authors’ university, which had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, or writing of the study.

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