Attitudes Towards Receiving Mental Health Care Using Telehealth During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic

Attitudes Towards Receiving Mental Health Care Using Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this study is to collect patients' experiences and feedback to better understand and improve mental health care using telehealth services. This is critically important as telehealth appointments, including both phone and video calls, continue to be offered for regular appointments to reduce in-person interaction as a preventive measure to help control the spread of COVID-19.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stress; Mental Health Disorder; Psychiatric Disorder; Adjustment Disorders
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: No interventions

Detailed Description

Studying patients' perceived benefits and challenges of using telehealth services for mental health care will allow us to prioritize improvements to the telehealth experience and potentially, patient adoption of and comfort with remote appointments. This study's results would also inform policy makers and insurance companies about the potential utility of delivering mental health care through telehealth, even beyond the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 605

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
      • Feinberg School of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

People receiving mental health care at Northwestern Medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults age 18 and over who received mental health care through Northwestern prior to telehealth implementation from March 15th 2019 to March 14th 2020, and had at least one mental health care appointment through Northwestern between March 15th 2020 and September 30th 2020.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Adults unable to access study questionnaires via computer or mobile device

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Other
• Time Perspectives: Other

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Mental Health patients starting pre-COVID; Patients receiving mental health care prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic	Other: No interventions; This is a self-reported survey study about receiving mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patient Choosing Telehealth as an Option for Future Care	Patients choosing telehealth or not for future case, or unsure)	At baseline
Comparison Between In-person and Telehealth	Subjects will reply on a 5 point scale (Telehealth much better, Telehealth better, about the same, In-person better, In-person much better Items compared: Quality of mental health care, ability to express one self, time & money savings, ease of managing responsibilities, length of wait times and appointments missed	At baseline
Patient Satisfaction With Telehealth	Subjects will reply on a 5 point scale (Extremely satisfied, Satisfied, Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, Dissatisfied, Extremely Dissatisfied) No standard questionnaire. Internally developed questions	At baseline
Patient Comfort Using Telehealth	Subjects will reply on a 5 point scale (Extremely comfortable, Comfortable, Neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, Uncomfortable, Extremely uncomfortable) No standard questionnaire. Internally developed questions	At Baseline
Patient Easy of Using Telehealth	Subjects will reply on a 5 point scale (Extremely easy, Easy, Neither easy nor difficult, Difficult, Extremely difficult) No standard questionnaire. Internally developed questions	At Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Northwestern University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Rado, MD, Northwestern University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 10, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 31, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): January 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 28, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 30, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): January 5, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 16, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 6, 2024
• Last Verified: May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Telemedicine; mental health; COVID-19; Telehealth; Survey; pandemic; therapy; psychiatry; Telepsychiatry; Attitudes; Telepsych; Telepsychology; Telemental health
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Lung Diseases; Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders; COVID-19; Problem Behavior; Mental Disorders; Adjustment Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: STU00213696

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No