Factors Associated With Intention and Use of e-Mental Health by Mental Health Counselors in General Practices: Web-Based Survey.

BACKGROUND: Mental health care counselors have a high intention to use e-mental health (EMH), whereas actual use is limited. Facilitating future use requires insight into underlying factors as well as eligibility criteria that mental health care counselors use in their decision to apply EMH. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to unfold the intention and underlying reasons for mental health counselors to use EMH and to unveil the criteria they use to estimate patient eligibility for EMH. The theoretical framework was based on the reasoned action approach model, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, and the Measurement Instrument for Determinants of Innovation model. METHODS: To empirically validate our theoretical model, a web-based survey was conducted among mental health care counselors (n=132). To unveil the eligibility criteria, participants were asked to rank their reasons for considering EMH suitable or unsuitable for a patient. RESULTS: The mean intention to use EMH was positive (mean 4.04, SD 0.64). The mean use of EMH before the COVID-19 pandemic was 38% (mean 0.38, SD 0.22), and it was 49% (mean 0.49, SD 0.25) during the pandemic. In total, 57% of the patient population was considered eligible for EMH. Usefulness and benefits (ß=.440; P<.001), Task perception (ß=.306; P=.001), and Accessibility (ß=.140; P=.02) explained the intention to use EMH (F3,131=54.151; P<.001; R2=0.559). In turn, intention explained patient eligibility (F1,130=34.716; P<.001; R2=0.211), whereas intention and patient eligibility explained EMH use (F2,129=41.047; P<.001; R2=0.389). Patient eligibility partially mediated the relationship between intention to use EMH and EMH use, with a larger direct effect (c'=0.116; P<.001) than indirect effect (c=0.065, 95% CI 0.035-0.099; P<.001). Mental health counselors assessed patients' eligibility for EMH mainly through the availability of computers and the internet and patient motivation. CONCLUSIONS: To stimulate the use of EMH, intention and patient eligibility need to be influenced. Intention, in turn, can be enhanced by addressing the perceived usefulness and benefits of EMH, perceived accessibility, and task perception. Access to a computer and patients' motivation to use EMH are important in facilitating patient eligibility. To cause an impact with EMH in general practice, mental health counselors need to be convinced of the benefits of EMH and transfer this enthusiasm to the patient. It is recommended to involve mental health counselors in the development of EMH to increase the (perceived) added value and use.

An investigation of healthcare professionals' perspectives on the tasks of mental health counselors in hospital settings

With the global mental health implications reported by the spread of COVID 19 (Javed et al., 2020) and the amplified mental health illnesses reported by the State of Mental Health in America (Reinert et al., 2021), there is an increased need to address psychological and emotional health along with physical health. Mental Health Counselors (MHCs) can be the next professional body to support the multidisciplinary teams within hospital settings to complement holistic care focusing on physical and emotional well-being. Researchers have demonstrated addressing the psychological needs of patients from their first admissions to the hospital has significant positive implications on their recovery outcomes as well as psychological, social, and relational well-being post-discharge (Zhang et al., 2016;Ng et al., 2007;Schoultz et al., 2015;McCombie et al., 2016;Hatch et al., 2011). Research on the effects of therapeutic intervention has effectively prevented PTSD in the general population when provided in the first month after trauma exposure (Bryant et al., 2008). Therefore, early therapeutic interventions in hospital settings to identify emotional and psychological reactions (Weinert & Meller, 2007) before discharging patients can significantly impact patients' post-discharge mental health. However, since counseling is a new profession entering the medical field, role confusion within multidisciplinary teams appears to impact counselors' effective integration into healthcare as they provide counseling services to hospitalized patients. Therefore, in this study, I address the gap in the literature by exploring the perspectives and expectations of healthcare professionals on what MHCs do in hospital settings. This study was guided by a social constructivist paradigm utilizing an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, concept mapping (Kane & Trochim, 2007). Healthcare professionals conceptualized MHCs' tasks in hospital settings to facilitate medical and mental health services and enhance patients' well-being in 104 statements grouped in 11 clusters forming three central regions. The three main regions include: "Overarching Roles and Responsibilities of MHCs in the Hospital Setting" (Region I) contained two clusters (i.e., 'Fundamental Roles and Responsibilities in the Hospital Setting', & 'Specific Roles and Responsibilities in Different Hospital Units') of MHCs' tasks, while "MHCs' Specific Roles in the Hospital Setting" (Region II) entailed four clusters (i.e., 'Building Relationship with Patients,' 'Assessing/Evaluating Patients' Mental Health Status', 'Assisting and Supporting patients with Physical, Psychological, and Social Challenges in Relations to their Medical Condition' & 'Educating Patients') and "MHC's Roles and Responsibilities as a Multidisciplinary Team Member" (Region III) hosted five clusters (i.e., 'Advocating for Patients in the Multidisciplinary Team', 'Mediating Communication Between Healthcare Professionals, Patients, and Families', 'Collaborating with Other Multidisciplinary Team Members on Patients' Care', 'Training Other Multidisciplinary Members on General Wellness and Mental Health' & 'Offering Trainings and Emotional Support to Other Multidisciplinary Team Members'). The top three higher-rated clusters as being most important for participants were cluster 7 'advocating for patients in the multidisciplinary team', cluster 5 'assisting and supporting patients with physical, psychological, and social challenges in relation to their medical condition,' and cluster 11 'offering training and emotional support to other multidisciplinary team members'. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

MH service delivery, 988 gratitude, on readers' minds in 2023

Editor's note: Last week in Mental Health Weekly's Annual 2023 Preview Issue, we featured some of your responses to the most pressing challenges and new opportunities that await you in the new year. Here are more of your responses. Thanks to all who submitted comments.

A Lurking Threat: Counselor Practices to Guard Against Cyber Threats

As a result of shifts in global power, the growth of cyber capabilities worldwide, and the impact of COVID-19 on the increasing use of-technology in varied workplaces, the potential for threat and disruption to mental health facilities is expected to increase. Counselors and their clients are vulnerable to these threats any time they share data online with each other, with third-party payers, and with allied health professionals. In Act, any private infonnation stored digitally is potentially at risk for exploitation or theft. This current environment highlights the need for an intentional process and approach that can help mental health counselors understand their digital assets and vulnerabilities in order to anticipate and protect against potential cyber threats. This type of process can be facilitated through the application of cyber intelligence and cybersecurity principles to online counseling services iii order to address ethical and legal obligations of counselors and to assuage client fears about potential privacy breaches. When counselors keep client data safe, Health Information Portability and Accountability Act and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act violations are less likely to occur in a variety of settings where clients may be seen. Ati overview of the need for cybersecurity, a framework for bolstering cybersecurity, and specific guidelines for counselors are provided. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Mental Health and COVID-19: Symptom Prevalence, Sociodemographic Associations, and Implications for Practice

The COV1D-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on mental health. The current study examined symptoms of depression and anxiety and sociodemographic factors associated with increased symptoms among 1,242 adults under the same state-issued stay-at-home mandate. Mean anxiety and depression scores were 58.07 ± 9.6 and 55.18 ± 10.49, with the majority of participants indicating clinically significant symptoms of anxiety (n = 831, 66.90%) and depression (n = 652, 52.49%). African American and Latino/a American participants, individuals under the age of 45, and unemployed individuals or persons working in professional jobs presented with the most significant risk for adverse outcomes. Implications highlight the vital role of clinical mental health counselors in supporting at-risk populations and the need for future research supporting prevention-based, culturally appropriate screening and treatment protocols. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Mental Health Counseling is the property of American Mental Health Counselors Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Not Your Fetish: Broaching Racialized Sexual Harassment Against Asian Women

Asian women's paradoxical position of hypervisbility and invisibility is a result of society caricaturing and fetishizing their sexuality and bodies while simultaneously denying their humanity and personhood. Despite the long history of objectification and fetishization of Asian women in the United States, extant mental health counseling training programs and literature offer limited guidance to counselors on this concern, perpetuating an epistemic lapse in mental health counselors' competency. With rising anti-Asian hate, the racialized COVID-19 pandemic, and anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States, there exist increased threats to Asian women's mental health. Responding to a paucity of counseling literature, this article offers strategies grounded in the multidimensional model of broaching behavior to broach racialized sexual harassment experienced by Asian women. Implications for counselor training and future research are also offered. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Mental Health Counseling is the property of American Mental Health Counselors Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)