JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Every year, around 1.8 million people in the UK are referred to NHS Talking Therapies services, predominantly for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which is the first-line treatment for common affective and anxiety disorders. However, more than a million of these do not complete their course. Supporting this ‘missing million’ to attend and complete CBT is a policy priority.

Objective:

We aimed to co-produce video resources to help people better prepare for cognitive behavioral therapy.

Methods:

We assembled an interdisciplinary team to undertake an iterative video development process, composed of three sub-teams. An expert contributor sub-team of therapists shared their priorities and preferences for video content and style. A creative sub-team was responsible for scripting, filming, and editing video content. A project management sub-team distilled insights from the expert contributors and shared them with the creative team; they also presented video content to expert contributors and collected feedback. The process was terminated when expert contributors were satisfied that the videos developed could be shared with their patients.

Results:

We conducted two development cycles between February and August 2024. We developed 12 videos covering topics such as the format of CBT (why there is work to do between therapy sessions, for example) and the psychological content (the value of developing healthy habits). The termination condition was achieved; expert contributors agreed to share videos with their patients.

Conclusions:

We successfully collaborated to produce a series of psychoeducation videos. A major strength of this process was the large number of people from different professional backgrounds involved; this diversity boosted both the validity of the content and the creativeness of the videos. This approach was well-suited to the setting of psychotherapy where therapists have a detailed understanding of the anxieties and uncertainties of their patients but we would advise caution in fields where professionals are less attuned to their patients’ needs. Support to engage the ‘missing million’ is urgently needed and psychoeducational videos provide one suitable approach.