Clinician perspectives about delivering a blended care treatment model for adolescent depression: a qualitative study

Availability of psychological services for adolescents cannot keep up with demand. Integrating digital interventions with face-to-face care into a blended model, an approach to treatment that incorporates the benefits of both digital and face-to-face therapy, may help address some access barriers by aiming to optimise treatment efficiency and effectiveness. This study explored mental health professionals' perspectives on incorporating a CBT-based app (ClearlyMe®) into their clinical practice with adolescents experiencing depression.

Semi-structured focus groups and interviews were conducted with 37 mental health professionals (psychologists, counsellors, social workers) working with adolescents in schools or private practices. ClearlyMe® is a self-directed, CBT-based smartphone app designed to address depressive symptoms among adolescents. Participants trialed the ClearlyMe® app for 10 min prior to focus groups and interviews. The discussions explored how mental health professionals would prefer to integrate ClearlyMe® into their face-to-face therapy when working with adolescents with depression, as well as the training and support requirements for doing so. Data was analysed using a deductive thematic analysis approach.

Five key themes were identified: (1) Optimal ways to integrate the app with therapy; (2) Suitability of clients for blended care; (3) Facilitators and barriers to adopting blended care; (4) Data and privacy issues; and (5) Training and support requirements for those delivering care.

Clinicians supported ClearlyMe® in a blended care format if it were to complement their practice without adding workload and was supported by flexible training. They emphasized caution with data sharing and noted the model would be best suited to motivated clients, with at-risk clients likely needing more support. Future work will develop a blended care framework and training resources.