Assignment 4 – Discussing Design Decisions: First Decision

Having discussed in my previous post dissemination possibilities for my final project (Joubert, 2021), a quality assessment tool for online mental health courses, the past two weeks I have been spent working on the transition between the proposal stage to the project stage. The current aim for the project is to review aspects of course quality assessment, telemental health and virtual care, as well as mental health program evaluation in order to ensure robustness and applicability in the final tool. Currently, however, there have been few design decisions made thus far beyond updating the proposal for clarification in certain areas.

One area noted that could benefit from clarification was my literature review, specifically the mental health program evaluation (Joubert, 2022, pp. 14-15). In this subsection, and before noting some guidelines and standards used in telemental health, I had written that telemental health has traditionally been used to benefit rural communities (Coulson et al., 2011; Crowe et al., 2016),  military personnel (Briscoe et al., 2008), and deaf patients (Crowe, 2017; Crowe et al., 2016; Diehl et al., 2018). What was initially left out, and upon further reflection was necessary, was detail on how this was used within these groups, as well as what successes and failures there were. This is particularly relevant as the project sponsor has a mandate to provide therapy and mental health resources to a diverse group, and one goal of their current initiative is to widen the their reach with their community using online courses. Understanding use cases within telemental health, as well as successes and failures, could help bridge the gap between what is practical and what is not within their context.

Looking to provide more detail, I saw that Briscoe et al. (2009) noted telemental health as removing distance barriers and stressors, both physical and emotional, for soldiers and veterans with PTSD; Meanwhile Price et al. (2019) described telemental health as being similarly applied to military family members and those with developmental trauma. The removal of barriers was a similar theme for deaf patients (Crowe, 2017) and those in rural communities, particularly Indigenous communities (Coulson et al., 2011), providing accessibility and a sense of safety to both groups. One key difference between these groups is that Crowe (2017) and Coulson et al. (2011) both identified cultural relevance as being of particular import for deaf patients and remote Indigenous communities.

Reviewing this information further has prompted the following questions:

• Do the guidelines and standards used differ between these groups? If so, why and how? If not, why not?
• What other case studies exist, and were they successes or failures? Why or why not?
• What are the challenges present in these situations that the guidelines and standards address?
• What gaps exist with the current guidelines and standards?
• How do these standards, and their gaps, mirror or differ from those of course quality assessment?
• How are cultural issues and community needs addressed by telemental health?

Based on the literature review conducted so far (Joubert, 2022, pp. 8-16), and as noted in the implementation subsection (pp. 20-21), the most helpful resource to investigate further appears to be the Telemedicine and e-Health journal found on EBSCO and ERIC. In addition, Military Medicine and Oxford or Oxford Academic may be helpful areas to search for further journal articles and case studies on these subjects. It is hoped that, in researching this more deeply, more clarity may be garnered regarding the unique challenges in telemental health, its program evaluation, and, ultimately, learn how best to combine course quality assessment with telemental health program evaluation.

References

Briscoe, G., Candeiario, J., Nieves, J. E., & Short, D. (2009). Telemental health for our soldiers: A brief review and a new pilot program. Military Medicine. https://www.proquest.com/openview/9a96aa5655a7af75de620d73514a6165/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=7561

Coulson, H., Daniels, E., Gibson, K., Kakekakekung, C., Miles, R., & O’Donnell, S. (2011). Conversations on telemental health: Listening to remote and rural First Nations communities. The International Electronic Journal of Rural and Remote Health Research, Education, Practice and Policy. https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=9fe8ff79-d7ef-4b1f-97a8-cfde7cb9c32d%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNzbw%3D%3D#db=ccm&AN=104606457

Crowe, T., Jani, S., Jani, S., Jani, N., & Jani, R. (2016). A pilot program in rural telepsychiatry for deaf and hard of hearing populations. Heliyon, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/J.HELIYON.2016.E00077

Crowe, T. V. (2017). Is telemental health services a viable alternative to traditional psychotherapy for deaf individuals? Community Mental Health Journal, 53(2), 154–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10597-016-0025-3

Diehl, K., McKee, M., Pertz, L., Plegue, M., & Zazove, P. (2018). Addressing mental health needs for deaf patients through an integrated health care model. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 23(3), 240–248. https://doi.org/10.1093/DEAFED/ENY002

Joubert, J.-P. (2021). Dissemination of My Final Project. MALAT Blog. https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0157/dissemination-of-my-final-project/

Joubert, J.-P. (2022). Creating an Quality Assessment Tool for Online Mental Health Courses (pp. 1–36).