Barriers to mental health care: perceived delivery system differences

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Telehealth Interventions
• Healthcare Delivery Models

Background:

• Treatment barriers limit access to care, necessitating innovative healthcare delivery models.
• Distance delivery systems, such as telephone interventions, can bridge the access gap and increase service availability.
• Understanding comparative effectiveness of different care models is crucial for system enhancement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare perceived treatment barriers and therapeutic processes between face-to-face and distance treatment delivery.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Strongest Families telephone intervention for child behavior difficulties.

Main Methods:

• Sixty participants in a child behavior intervention completed questionnaires assessing treatment barriers (Treatment Barriers Index-TBI) and therapeutic processes.
• Data compared outcomes between face-to-face and distance treatment modalities.
• The Treatment Barriers Index (TBI) demonstrated strong internal reliability (Cronbach α: 0.95 [face-to-face]; 0.90 [distance]).

Main Results:

• Statistically significant differences in TBI mean scores indicated fewer treatment barriers in distance delivery compared to face-to-face treatment.
• Therapeutic alliance and self-disclosure scores were enhanced in the distance treatment group.
• Participants reported increased access, convenience, and a greater sense of privacy with distance treatment.

Conclusions:

• Distance delivery systems, like telephone interventions, can effectively reduce treatment barriers for child behavior difficulties.
• Telehealth models may offer an enhanced therapeutic experience through increased accessibility, convenience, and perceived privacy.
• These findings support the integration of distance delivery systems to improve service availability and patient outcomes.