The Center for Global Mental Health Equity, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Psychol Psychother. 2023 Dec;96(4):849-867. doi: 10.1111/papt.12476. Epub 2023 Jun 9.
The COVID-19 pandemic has propelled a global paradigm shift in how psychological support is delivered. Remote delivery, through phone and video calls, is now commonplace around the world. However, most adoption of remote delivery methods is occurring without any formal training to ensure safe and effective care.
The purpose of this applied qualitative study was to determine practitioners' experiences of rapidly adapting to deliver psychological support remotely during COVID-19.
We used a pragmatic paradigm and applied approach to gain perspectives related to the feasibility and perceived usefulness of synchronous remote psychological support, including views on how practitioners can be prepared.
Key informant interviews were conducted remotely with 27 specialist and non-specialist practitioners in Nepal, Perú and the USA. Interviewees were identified through purposeful sampling. Data were analysed using framework analysis.
Respondents revealed three key themes: (i) Remote delivery of psychological support raises unique safety concerns and interference with care, (ii) Remote delivery enhances skills and expands opportunities for delivery of psychological support to new populations, and (iii) New training approaches are needed to prepare specialist and non-specialist practitioners to deliver psychological support remotely.
Remote psychological support is feasible and useful for practitioners, including non-specialists, in diverse global settings. Simulated remote role plays may be a scalable method for ensuring competency in safe and effective remotely-delivered care.
COVID-19 大流行推动了全球心理支持提供方式的范式转变。通过电话和视频通话进行远程交付现在在全球范围内很常见。然而,大多数远程交付方法的采用都没有任何正式的培训来确保安全有效的护理。
本应用定性研究的目的是确定从业者在 COVID-19 期间快速适应远程提供心理支持的经验。
我们采用实用主义范式和应用方法来获得与同步远程心理支持的可行性和感知有用性相关的观点,包括关于如何为从业者做好准备的观点。
通过有目的的抽样,对尼泊尔、秘鲁和美国的 27 名专业和非专业从业者进行了关键知情人访谈。使用框架分析对数据进行分析。
受访者揭示了三个关键主题:(i) 远程心理支持的提供引起了独特的安全问题和对护理的干扰,(ii) 远程心理支持提高了技能,并为向新人群提供心理支持扩大了机会,(iii) 需要新的培训方法来准备专业和非专业从业者远程提供心理支持。
远程心理支持对包括非专业人士在内的不同全球环境中的从业者来说是可行和有用的。模拟远程角色扮演可能是确保安全有效远程护理能力的可扩展方法。