Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Dec 28, 2020
Date Accepted: Feb 27, 2021
Digital mental health challenges and the horizon ahead for solutions
ABSTRACT
The overwhelming demand and inadequate supply of mental health resources during the COVID-19 pandemic presents opportunities for digital and data-oriented tools to fill this gap and, in the process, demonstrate capabilities to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Mental health service providers are grappling with the challenges of integrating modern digitalization and data-driven methods and solutions to investigate the barriers impeding population mental health and solve problems with prediction and risk modelling. Firstly, engagement by functional specialists with digital solutions and topics will be required for technologies to become embedded in standard clinical care. Secondly, human-computer interaction will be required to boost the impact of contact and assessment by health services (e.g., screening and tracking with the assistance of machine learning algorithms). Thirdly, a better understanding of the psychology (especially the digital therapeutic alliance) in human-computer interaction is required. Human patient and computerized therapeutic interventions (e.g., artificial intelligence and virtual reality) require rigorous evaluation. There are opportunities arising from integrating algorithms, digital platforms and solutions into population research to improve therapeutic outcomes. Although mature products cannot yet be reasonably expected, scrutiny of digitalization developments suggests that advantages outweigh disadvantages in terms of social justice, assessment/diagnosis accuracy and user experience. An integrated blueprint, roadmap, digital platforms, a well-connected learning environment, and a positive and inclusive culture intent on gritting through ethical challenges paves a pathway for increasing the reliability and validity of digital solutions while providing for increased resilience. A scale up in the hybrid model of care requires development of eminent products and services as well as skillsets to use and maintain it.
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