[Attitudes towards using eHealth in psychiatry and psychotherapy : A pilot survey at the DGPPN Congress 2014]

The use of modern communication and information technology in the health sector, known as eHealth, has the potential to reduce gaps in psychiatric and psychotherapeutic healthcare. In order to successfully implement eHealth it is important to assess the attitude of all stakeholders. The attitude of the patients towards eHealth has been frequently investigated but there is a lack of research on the side of the professionals. The attitude towards eHealth from the perspective of professionals has only rarely been evaluated in German-speaking countries; therefore, we carried out a survey at the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (DGPPN) congress in 2014 that included 282 psychiatrists, neurologists and psychologists in order to explore their attitudes towards eHealth . Furthermore, the professionals were asked in which therapeutic areas, for which age groups and for which clinical pictures they would expect benefits. In general, the participants expressed a positive attitude towards eHealth . They expected benefits for a multitude of therapeutic areas, particularly for adolescents and adults and especially for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders; however, they felt only minimally informed about eHealth opportunities indicating a high need for educational and training requirements.