Evaluating the Effect of a Telepsychiatry Educational Program on the Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Skills of Telepsychiatry Among Spanish Psychiatrists during COVID-19 Pandemic

  1. de las Cuevas, Carlos 12
  2. Gutiérrez-Rojas, Luis 56
  3. Alvarez-Mon, Miguel A. 1
  4. Andreu-Bernabeu, Álvaro 4
  5. Capitán, Luis 10
  6. Gómez, Juan Carlos 11
  7. Grande, Iria 7
  8. Hidalgo-Mazzei, Diego 7
  9. Mateos, Raimundo 8
  10. Moreno-Gea, Pedro 2
  11. De Vicente-Muñoz, Tomás 9
  12. Ferre, Francisco 3
  1. 1 Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor, Madrid, Spain.
  2. 2 Editor of psiquiatria.com, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
  3. 3 Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
  4. 4 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Medicine, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Universidad Complutense, IiSGM, CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain.
  5. 5 Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario San Cecilio, Granada, Spain.
  6. 6 Department of Psychiatry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
  7. 7 Bipolar and Depressive Disorders Unit, Institute of Neuroscience, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain.
  8. 8 Psychogeriatric Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Santiago de Compostela, CHUS University Hospital, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
  9. 9 Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario Ribera, Alzira, Valencia, Spain.
  10. 10 Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Sevilla, Spain.
  11. 11 Global Head of Medical Science, Shionogi & Co, London, United Kingdom.
  12. 12 Department of Internal Medicine, Dermatology and Psychiatry and Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia (IUNE), University of La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain.
  13. 13 Universidad de La Laguna
    info

    Universidad de La Laguna

    San Cristobal de La Laguna, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01r9z8p25

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Journal:
Telemedicine and e-Health

ISSN: 1530-5627,  1556-3669

Year of publication: 2023

Volume: 29

Issue: 1

Pages: 102--108

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1089/TMJ.2022.0051 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Telemedicine and e-Health

Sustainable development goals

Abstract

Introduction:The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the interest in telepsychiatry as a way to help psychiatrists care for their patients, but mental health providers' unfamiliarity and concerns may impede implementation of such services. This study aimed to determine the effect of an online educational intervention on awareness, knowledge, attitude, and skills (AKAS) of telepsychiatry among psychiatrists.Methods:The study used a pre-post-test design to compare AKAS of telepsychiatry among psychiatrists participating in an online course of practical telepsychiatry. The telemedicine AKAS questionnaire adapted to telepsychiatry was applied before and after the educational intervention, during the months of October to December 2020.Results:Responses from 213 participants were analyzed before the educational intervention and from 152 after it. The knowledge showed by Spanish psychiatrists before the educational intervention was good in 61% of participants, fair in 37%, and inadequate in 2%. With respect to attitudes toward telepsychiatry, 62% self-reported a high attitude, 33% moderate, and 5% low. With regard self-reported skills, 57% of the participating psychiatrists were highly skilled or experts, 22% moderately skilled, and 9% unskilled in handling telepsychiatry equipment. Despite the high baseline values, the educational intervention significantly improved psychiatrists' awareness, knowledge and attitudes toward telepsychiatry although not their skills.Conclusions:Online course of practical telepsychiatry was effective although future editions need to improve its focus on skills. This educational intervention represents an effort to promote the implementation of telepsychiatry as a health care alternative.

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