Relative Preference for In-Person, Telehealth, Digital, and Pharmacologic Mental Health Care After the COVID-19...

Most adults and children in the United States fail to receive timely care for mental health symptoms, with even worse rates of care access for individuals who belong to racial and ethnic minority groups. Digital (ie, app-based) care has proven to be an efficacious and empirically supported treatment option with the potential to address low rates of care and reduce care disparities, yet little is known about the relative preference for such treatment. Furthermore, the rapid adoption of telehealth care during the COVID-19 pandemic may have shifted care preferences.

This study aimed to examine relative treatment preferences for 4 different types of mental health care: in-person psychological care, telehealth psychological care, digital treatment, or pharmacologic care. Care preferences were also examined relative to potential predictors of care use (ie, gender, race, age, stigma, discrimination, and level of shame).

In this cross-sectional online survey study of adults (N=237, mean age 35 years, range 19-68 years), we ranked 4 mental health care modalities based on care preference: (1) in-person care, (2) telehealth care, (3) digital care, and (4) pharmacologic care. Preference for treatment modality was assessed based on vignette presentation for generalized anxiety disorder and insomnia. In addition, participants completed self-report questionnaires for demographics, symptom severity, and psychological and stigma-related variables.

We found no difference in overall preference for in-person versus both telehealth and digital care. For both generalized anxiety disorder and insomnia, participants preferred in-person care to telehealth care, although this finding was attenuated amongst older participants for insomnia treatment. Participants' depressed mood was associated with a greater relative preference for pharmacologic care. There was no evidence of differential preference for digital care according to demographics, symptom severity, or psychological and stigma-related variables.

These results indicate that digital care now competes well in terms of treatment preference with in-person, telehealth, and pharmacologic treatment options.