Woerner Molly, Sams Nichole, Rivera Nales Cristian, Gorstein Tara, Johnson Morgan, Mosser Brittany A, Areán Patricia A
Conducting Research to Enhance Assessment and Treatment Through Innovation in Mental Health (CREATIV) Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults With Mental Illness (ALACRITY Center), Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
Front Digit Health. 2022 Feb 10;4:840169. doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2022.840169. eCollection 2022.
Personal technology (e.g., smartphones, wearable health devices) has been leveraged extensively for mental health purposes, with upwards of 20,000 mobile applications on the market today and has been considered an important implementation strategy to overcome barriers many people face in accessing mental health care. The main question yet to be addressed is the role consumers feel technology should play in their care. One underserved demographic often ignored in this discussion are people over the age of 60. The population of adults 60 and older is predicted to double by 2,050 signaling a need to address how older adults view technology for their mental health care.
The objective of this study is to better understand why digital mental health tools are not as broadly adopted as predicted, what role people with lived mental health experience feel technology should play in their care and how those results compare across age groups.
In a mixed-methods approach, we analyzed results from a one-time cross-sectional survey that included 998 adults aged 18-83 with lived experience of mental health concerns recruited from Prolific, an online research platform. We surveyed participant's use of technology including their perspectives on using technology in conjunction with their mental health care. We asked participants about their previous use of digital mental health tools, their treatment preferences for mental health care, and the role technology should play in their mental health care.
Across all age groups, respondents had favorable views of using digital mental health for managing mental health care. However, older adults rated their acceptability of digital mental health tools lower than middle-aged and younger adults. When asked what role technology should play in mental health care in an open-ended response, most participants responded that technology should play a complementary role in mental health care (723/954, 75.8%).
Digital mental health is seen as a valuable care management tool across all age groups, but preferences for its role in care remain largely administrative and supportive. Future development of digital mental health should reflect these preferences.
个人技术（如智能手机、可穿戴健康设备）已被广泛用于心理健康目的，目前市场上有超过20000款移动应用程序，并且被认为是克服许多人在获得心理保健方面面临的障碍的一项重要实施策略。尚未解决的主要问题是消费者认为技术在其护理中应扮演的角色。在这一讨论中经常被忽视的一个服务不足的人群是60岁以上的人。预计到2050年，60岁及以上的成年人数量将翻一番，这表明有必要探讨老年人如何看待技术在其心理健康护理中的作用。
本研究的目的是更好地理解为什么数字心理健康工具没有像预期的那样被广泛采用，有心理健康生活经历的人认为技术在其护理中应扮演什么角色，以及这些结果在不同年龄组之间的比较情况。
采用混合方法，我们分析了一项一次性横断面调查的结果，该调查包括998名年龄在18 - 83岁之间、有心理健康问题生活经历的成年人，他们是从在线研究平台Prolific招募的。我们调查了参与者对技术的使用情况以及他们对将技术与心理健康护理结合使用的看法。我们询问了参与者以前使用数字心理健康工具的情况、他们对心理健康护理的治疗偏好，以及技术在其心理健康护理中应扮演的角色。
在所有年龄组中，受访者对使用数字心理健康来管理心理健康护理持积极看法。然而，老年人对数字心理健康工具的接受度低于中年人和年轻人。当被要求以开放式回答技术在心理健康护理中应扮演什么角色时，大多数参与者回答说技术应在心理健康护理中发挥辅助作用（723/954，75.8%）。
数字心理健康在所有年龄组中都被视为一种有价值的护理管理工具，但其在护理中的作用偏好主要仍为管理性和支持性。数字心理健康的未来发展应反映这些偏好。
