Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Jul 6, 2020
Date Accepted: Aug 2, 2021
Acceptance and use of telepsychology from clients’ perspective: perceived advantages and barriers
ABSTRACT
Background:
Telepsychology is currently incorporated in clinical practice, being offered in most psychotherapy centers. However, there seems to be a remarkable discrepancy between the offer, or interest in, and real-world uptake of e-mental health interventions among the population. A critical precondition is patients’ willingness to accept and use telepsychology, although this issue has thus far been overlooked in research.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to examine patients’ acceptance and use of telepsychology by adopting an extended UTAUT model that integrates perceived telepsychology advantages and barriers, usefulness perceptions, behavioral intention and telepsychology use.
Methods:
An online survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 514 subjects. Structural equation models were computed to test a mediation model.
Results:
Results supported the UTAUT model to explain patients’ acceptance and use of telepsychology. They showed a causal chain in which perceived telepsychology advantages and barriers were related to telepsychology use through the perceived usefulness of and intention to use telepsychology.
Conclusions:
Telepsychology use may be explained according to the UTAUT model when coupled with patients’ perceptions of telepsychology advantages and barriers. Mental health stakeholders could consider these factors in order to increase the acceptance and use of telepsychology.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.