Al-Mahrouqi Tamadhir, Al-Alawi Kamila, Al-Alawi Mohammed, Al Balushi Naser, Al Ghailani Abdullah, Al Sabti Hilal, Al Sinawi Hamed
Psychiatry Residency Training Program, Oman Medical Specialty Board, Muscat, Oman.
World Health Organization, Muscat, Oman.
SAGE Open Med. 2022 Mar 29;10:20503121221086372. doi: 10.1177/20503121221086372. eCollection 2022.
Tele-mental health services can play an important role in overcoming barriers in mental health services in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. However, despite its potential, tele-mental health has not been widely adopted in Oman. This study is an exploratory investigation into the experiences of therapists and their clients in utilizing video-based tele-mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 19 semistructured qualitative interviews were individually conducted, it included 13 adult clients with mental health conditions who received video-based tele-mental health care and six clinical psychologists who provided video-based tele-mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The clients reported favorable experiences using tele-mental health, with the primary benefits being convenience, easy accessibility to subspecialized care, reduced absenteeism from work with commuting costs, and alleviated mental health stigma. The therapists also expressed experiencing benefits from tele-mental health, such as reduced risk of intrahospital infection, reduced healthcare costs, and the achievement of work-life balance. Primary concerns were related to the lack of public tele-mental health services, lack of specified tele-mental health guidelines, shortage of trained therapists, limited access to high-speed Internet, electronic devices, privacy, and concerns toward the security of telehealth systems in general.
Clients and therapists report that tele-mental health offers new opportunities to improve the quality of mental healthcare services in Oman, and that the challenges could be resolved by establishing governmental tele-mental health services along with developing tele-mental health guidelines and implementing local postgraduate clinical psychology programs in universities in Oman.
远程心理健康服务在克服东地中海区域心理健康服务障碍方面可发挥重要作用。然而，尽管具有潜力，但远程心理健康在阿曼尚未得到广泛应用。本研究是对治疗师及其客户在新冠疫情期间使用视频远程心理健康护理的经历进行的探索性调查。
总共进行了19次半结构化定性访谈，其中包括13名患有心理健康问题的成年客户，他们接受了视频远程心理健康护理，以及6名临床心理学家，他们在新冠疫情期间提供了视频远程心理健康护理。
客户报告了使用远程心理健康的良好体验，主要好处包括方便、易于获得专科护理、减少因通勤费用而缺勤以及减轻心理健康污名。治疗师也表示从远程心理健康中受益，如降低医院内感染风险、降低医疗成本以及实现工作与生活的平衡。主要担忧与缺乏公共远程心理健康服务、缺乏特定的远程心理健康指南、训练有素的治疗师短缺、高速互联网接入有限、电子设备、隐私以及对远程医疗系统安全性的普遍担忧有关。
客户和治疗师报告称，远程心理健康为提高阿曼心理健康护理服务质量提供了新机会，并且通过建立政府远程心理健康服务、制定远程心理健康指南以及在阿曼大学实施本地研究生临床心理学项目，可以解决这些挑战。
