Facilitators and barriers to implementing mental health apps among interdisciplinary staff in the Veterans Health...

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) developed evidence-informed mental health mobile applications (MH apps) to supplement treatment and serve as self-care resources for veterans. However, lack of awareness and understanding of how to integrate MH apps into care pose barriers to uptake. The VA Mobile Mental Health Apps Project was conducted from 2019 to 2021 to train and support VA health care staff in integrating VA MH apps into practice using implementation facilitation. Interdisciplinary staff (N = 1,110) from 19 VA sites, led by local site champions, and supported by project Facilitators, participated. The training phase successfully equipped staff with key knowledge and skills for MH app integration (McGee-Vincent et al., 2023), but training is not sufficient for practice change (Schueller & Torous, 2020). The current article summarizes results from a mixed methods evaluation of the preimplementation planning and active implementation phases of the project. Survey data from 3-month posttraining (n = 362) and qualitative interview data (n = 27) assessed within the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (Damschroder et al., 2022b) were analyzed to highlight facilitators and barriers to implementation. Results showed positive perceptions, meaningful adoption, and expanded reach of MH apps for veterans by staff across VA. Given that the project was well-received and perceived to be sustainable, the adaptability of the innovation and implementation model, and the relatively limited number of perceived barriers, this project may serve as a model for other practice changes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).