JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Blended psychotherapy (bPT) augments face-to-face psychotherapy with digital intervention components to improve effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of mental health treatment. Feasibility and effectiveness of bPT have been shown for various mental health problems, but mostly for patient groups with higher levels of functioning.

Objective:

We aim to conduct a scoping review on feasibility, adherence and effectiveness of bPT for the treatment of patients with severe mental illnesses (SMI).

Methods:

Following PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines PubMed, PsycInfo, PsycArticle and Google Scholar were searched for articles published until October 10, 2022. Also, reference lists of retrieved reviews were hand-searched for further eligible articles.

Results:

Out of 684 identified articles and 557 screened by title and abstract 19 relevant studies, covering data from 17 interventions were included in the synthesis. BPT for SMI mainly comprised of CBT-based psychotherapy programs for outpatients and was feasible in all but one studies, with varying levels of patient adherence and promising attrition rates overall. Studies investigated various bPT contents and structures. There was evidence for bPT effectiveness, although studies were heterogenous and often reported on bPT efficacy without adequate control groups.

Conclusions:

Overall, bPT can be considered as a promising feasible, effective, adherence-supporting and potentially cost-effective option for the enhancement of evidence-based psychotherapy treatment of SMI patients. Challenges and further research as well as clinical implementation directions are discussed for the bPT treatment of SMI.