Psychologist and physician interest in telehealth training and referral for mental health services

What is it about?

The current study explored psychological and medical professionals’ interest in videoconferencing telehealth training and mental health telehealth referral. An online survey assessed 782 participants comprised of 669 psychological (45% male, Mean Age = 47.01, SD = 16.82) and 113 medical professionals (58% male, Mean Age = 46.19, SD = 12.40). Z-test analyses indicated that although psychological professionals were statistically more interested in receiving telehealth training, both groups reported some interest. Ranked responses indicated efficacy data, ethical issues, and legal concerns as the most endorsed areas of training interest. Referral concerns were also found. Findings were discussed related to both statistical and clinical significance. Application of findings is discussed related to future work, practice, and program creation. The development of telehealth training programs will provide interested professionals with tools required for practice and may serve as an impetus to increase utilization and/or referral.

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Why is it important?

To date, little work has directly examined general telehealth training interest (to educate for knowledge, utilization, and/or referral) or referral patterns among psychological or medical professionals. Given this, the primary purposes of the current study are to elucidate general interest among psychological and medical professionals in receiving telehealth training, to determine which training aspects are deemed most salient, and to evaluate telehealth referral patterns for mental health services among psychological and medical professionals.