[Professionals' Perceptions Regarding the Implementation of Guided Self-help in the context of the Programme...

Objective Common mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, have many individual and societal consequences. Various treatments are available for people with these diagnoses, including medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. When these disorders are mild or moderate, psychotherapy is the recommended first-line treatment, given its greater long-term efficacy than pharmacotherapy. However, this is not what is observed in practice: medication is much more widely used than psychotherapy, the latter's accessibility being greatly reduced by long waiting lists. An alternative to these accessibility difficulties is the stepped-care model, which includes guided self-help. These are low-intensity interventions that enable more people to be treated with fewer resources (e.g., fewer meetings with a professional). The Programme québécois pour les troubles mentaux (PQPTM; Quebec Program for Mental Disorders) is a stepped-care model recently implemented in some settings in Quebec. The aim of this study is to gather the perceptions of social workers (SWs) in a Centre intégré (universitaire) de santé et de services sociaux (CI[U]SSS; Community mental health center) on the implementation of the PQPTM guided self-help. Methods To this end, three focus groups of approximately 1h30 were conducted with 13 SWs. The data were coded and analyzed using a thematic qualitative inductive-deductive approach, based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementing Research (CFIR) and the participants' responses obtained during the focus groups. Results The barriers and facilitators to PQPTM guided self-help implementation identified relate to different CFIR constructs: intervention characteristics (e.g., monitoring, type of self-help), internal implementation parameters (e.g., training, organizational pressures), caregiver characteristics (e.g., experience, appropriation time), user characteristics (e.g., age, personality) and process (e.g., treatment integrity, supervision). The results of this qualitative study show that SWs have varied perceptions and opinions of the PQPTM guided self-help: 64% of the themes discussed were nuanced, while 25% were considered exclusively as barriers and 11% exclusively as facilitators. Conclusion These results shed light on the factors that can contribute to the successful implementation of the PQPTM guided self-help in Quebec, with a view to improving it at the heart of the specific CI(U)SSS of the current study and in other mental health centers in Quebec. Several recommendations are made in this respect: for example, to increase upstream planning for future implementations, to maintain access to training and supervision, and to guarantee the availability and printing of self-help guides.