Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: May 5, 2021
Date Accepted: Dec 2, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Dec 8, 2021
Patient Satisfaction and Recommendations for Delivering a Group-Based Intensive Outpatient Program via Telemental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic
ABSTRACT
Background:
Although group-based intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) are a level of care commonly utilized by adults with serious mental illness (SMI), few studies have examined the acceptability of group-based IOPs that required rapid transition to a telemental health (TMH) format during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective:
The aim of this study is to evaluate patient satisfaction and future recommendations for a group-based IOP that was transitioned to a TMH format during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
A 17-item patient satisfaction questionnaire was completed by patients at discharge and covered three areas: IOP TMH satisfaction, future recommendations, and video technology challenges. Descriptive and content analyses were conducted for the quantitative and open-ended questions respectively.
Results:
A total of 76 patients completed the program in 2020. A subset of patients (N = 40) responded to the survey at program discharge. Results indicated that patients were satisfied overall with the TMH program format. 50% of the patients preferred the program continue offering the TMH format and the rest preferred returning back to in person after the pandemic. Patients indicated the elements of the program that they found most valuable and provided recommendations for future program improvement.
Conclusions:
Overall, adults with SMI reported high satisfaction with the group-based IOP delivered via TMH. Healthcare systems may want to consider offering both TMH and in-person formats regardless of the state of the pandemic. Patients’ feedback on future improvements should be considered to help ensure long-term success.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
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.