Telehealth Made Mental Healthcare Accessible During Pandemic

Published in the Journal of Counseling and Development, a study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) found that mental healthcare quality did not decline and accessibility improved following a shift to telehealth, however, racial disparities remain.

After the imposition of restrictions on in-person care at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, stakeholders turned to telehealth to provide and receive care. Although prior research indicated initial skepticism surrounding telehealth use, new research from UAB found that patients accepted telehealth for mental healthcare en masse. 

Led by mental health researcher Yusen Zhai, PhD, an assistant professor in the UAB School of Education’s counseling program and director of the UAB Community Counseling Clinic, the study used the difference-in-difference approach, a quasi-experimental design.

“We used the difference-in-difference analysis for the first time in counseling research. It helps investigate causal relationships that are of interest and importance to public health and clinical practices. My colleagues and I are excited to see what this new form of analysis can bring to future counseling research studies,” said Zhai in a press release.

From this research, Zhai and his colleagues found that patients in need of mental healthcare during the pandemic were not opposed to receiving it virtually. Further, overall mental healthcare accessibility improved due to telehealth.

“After conducting our study, we found that many people received the rapid shift to telehealth favorably, and the shift potentially protected clients from experiencing a disruption in their existing counseling and mental health therapy sessions,” continued Zhai.

Despite the generally positive effects of telemental healthcare, racial and ethnic minorities faced disparities.

“The move to telehealth was positive overall, but it also showed us the increasing accessibility issues among racial and ethnic minority groups,” said Zhai. “Some racial and ethnic minority groups were more likely to experience mental health issues during the pandemic than others but were less likely to seek and use counseling services.”

Thus, though telehealth-enabled mental healthcare provides numerous benefits, efforts to limit access hardships among minorities are needed.

Prior research has also indicated that telehealth can support mental healthcare. However, care gaps exist.

A study published in BMC Psychiatry in May showed that although telehealth interventions can help treat maternal mental health, interventions must be directed toward specific conditions.

Given the high prevalence of depression among postpartum women, researchers aimed to uncover the efficacy of telehealth in treating this population. To do this, they led a systematic literature review with two goals: to determine whether telehealth can reduce mental health issues in postpartum women and uncover the efficacy level of various strategies.

After reviewing 44 articles encompassing various conditions, researchers found that the majority (62 percent) resulted in improvements in mental health outcomes among those who received care through telehealth. Although this data allowed researchers to conclude that telehealth was generally successful, an area for improvement related to the need for targeted telehealth treatment strategies.