Symposia
Dissemination & Implementation Science
Vivian Byeon, M.A.
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Ashley Flores, BA
Research Coordinator
UCLA
Los Angeles, California
Stephanie H. Yu, M.A.
University of California, Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, California
Julia Cox, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
Lauren Brookman-Frazee, Ph.D.
Professor
University of California, San Diego
San Diego, California
Anna S. Lau, Ph.D.
Professor
UCLA
Los Angeles, California
Background: Teletherapy has potential to increase access to evidence-based practices (EBPs) in mental health care to underserved populations. However, teletherapy had not been widely implemented until the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated its rapid global adoption. This transition presents a natural opportunity to examine barriers and facilitators of the sustainment of teletherapy in community mental health settings, as well as therapist views on specific EBP strategies for youth mental health that best fit the telehealth platform (given that most EBPs were developed and tested for in-person delivery).
Method: This study aims to 1) identify barriers and facilitators to the sustained use of teletherapy and 2) examine the feasibility of delivering specific EBP strategies via telehealth. Data were examined in the context of a large public behavioral health system that has facilitated implementation of multiple youth mental health EBPs since 2010. From August 2020 to January 2021, 27 community therapists from 10 agencies completed a semi-structured interview and online survey about their experience delivering EBPs via teletherapy. We used an immersion crystallization approach to analyze the interview transcripts and descriptive statistics for the survey data.
Results: Preliminary qualitative results revealed that three quarters of therapists had no prior teletherapy training. All but two therapists reported being involved in a peer group to share telehealth resources, solicit feedback about teletherapy, and provide emotional support to one another in the transition. Analyses suggested that facilitators of teletherapy include technology provided by agencies (e.g., encrypted computers, hotspot devices), supportive clinical supervisors, empathetic executive leaders, and organizational processes to support teletherapy (e.g., electronic measures and document collection, staff meetings about teletherapy). Ongoing analyses will identify aspects of child mental health EBP implementation perceived as most hindered versus facilitated in the transition to teletherapy.
Conclusions: These results may inform determinants of teletherapy sustainment and identify resources that behavioral health systems and organizations can invest in to support therapists EBP delivery through teletherapy. Maintaining teletherapy delivery of EBPs in routine care could lead to long-term advances in children’s mental health service delivery and reductions in mental health care disparities, including in response to future disasters and crises.