Telebehavioral Health Competencies in Interprofessional Education and Training: a Pathway to Interprofessional Practice

Education and training of telemental health providers: a systematic review

Objective

To conduct a systematic literature review of education and training (E&T) programs for telemental health (TMH) providers in the past 10 years to qualitatively clarify field offerings and methodologies, as well as identify areas for future growth.

Methods

We searched five major electronic databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, CINAHL, and Web of Science for original publications on TMH E&T from January 2013 to May 2023. We extracted information from each publication and summarized key features of training programs including setting, target group, study aims, training modality, methods of assessing quality, and outcomes.

Results

A total of 20 articles were selected for the final review. Articles meeting inclusionary criteria were predominantly comprised of case studies and commentaries, focused on a TMH service/practice for a specific region/population, and were performed after 2020. All of the selected studies demonstrated a significant increase in the measured knowledge, skills, and abilities of the participants after TMH training. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of standardization of training methodologies, limited sample sizes and demographics, variability in study methodologies, and inconsistency of competency targets across studies.

Conclusion

This systematic review highlighted the diversity of methods for TMH E&T. Future research on this topic could include more varied and larger-scale studies to further validate and extend current findings, as well as explore potential long-term effects of TMH training programs on both provider attitudes and patient outcomes.

Australian statewide virtual care competency-based education framework for the healthcare workforce: a Delphi study

This study aimed to establish shared interprofessional competencies across health professions that promote education, communication, and teamwork, preparing the virtual care workforce to work collaboratively with the patient and their carers, family members, and communities to improve health outcomes. A modified, two-round Delphi process was undertaken with an interprofessional panel selected from the public health sector workforce across one Australian state. Sixty-nine panelists participated in Round 1 and 40 panelists participated in Round 2. Fifty-eight competencies across seven domains were established to support an interprofessional approach to virtual care provision: compliance, professional practice, patient safety, communication, interprofessional collaboration, patient assessment and care planning/delivery/coordination. This virtual care education framework may assist different health disciplines to develop, revise or map new or existing undergraduate or postgraduate education programs or design professional development activities. Drawing upon the expertise of a broad range of health professionals in its development, this education framework focuses on improving interprofessional collaboration in virtual care settings.

Education guidelines, frameworks and resources for building virtual care capacity: An integrative review

INTRODUCTION

Despite its reported benefits, the accelerated adoption of virtual care since the COVID-19 pandemic has occurred without critical consideration of clinician education and training. This integrative review aims to better understand the necessary education guidelines, frameworks and resources for building the confidence and capability of the workforce for virtual care delivery.

METHODS

Whittemore and Knafl's (2005) five-stage methodological framework informed this review. Using a clearly articulated search strategy and reporting process, over 8000 pieces of literature were analysed. A final 46 publications comprising 26 scholarly papers and 20 pieces of grey literature were included for review.

RESULTS

A set of key curriculum inclusions under three domains: clinical, administrative and technical are proposed. Many publications emphasise a domain-specific approach as the most effective means of translating virtual care knowledge and skills to practice. A number of new domain frameworks have been tailormade for specific disciplines, while well-established frameworks such as the ACGME, CanMEDS, AAMC and IPEC have been adapted for virtual care education. Virtual care checklists, clinical champions and models that involve frontline clinicians, content experts and care recipients are considered useful resources for virtual care education.

DISCUSSION

Moving beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual care education for current and future clinicians requires a cohesive, interprofessional approach. This approach should be rigorously evaluated as part of a continuous quality improvement process.

"What Next?": Toward telebehavioral health sustainability in couple and family therapy

As a response to the COVID-19 global crisis, many in the couple/marital and family therapy (CMFT) professional community quickly met the challenge of providing services to clients via telebehavioral health (TBH) services. As this public health emergency endures, family therapists must continue to engage in TBH practice professionally and ethically. The rapid adoption of TBH with minimal training and experience during this public health emergency can result in crises for both individual therapists as well as for the profession in implementing electronic record-keeping, conducting virtual sessions, and communicating online with various clinical populations. The risk of insufficient training and supervision create a challenge to new and experienced family therapists. This article summarizes the work done by the profession thus far to respond to this public health emergency and presents a roadmap of recommendations for navigating those challenges into the future and offers ideas about how to sustain quality TBH practice.

Toward proficiency in telebehavioral health: applying interprofessional competencies in couple and family therapy

During the coronavirus pandemic, many behavioral health professionals providing psychotherapeutic services, including couple/marriage and family therapists (C/MFTs), quickly changed from providing in-person services to telebehavioral health (TBH) services, with specific reliance on teleconferencing. Many therapists were thrust into telehealth with minimal or no prior telebehavioral health experience, education, or training. Although TBH services have been shown to be effective and efficient with mental health and substance abuse problems, the teaching and learning of telebehavioral competencies have generally not been included in the formal education and training received by C/MFTs. This article presents an existing interprofessional telebehavioral health competencies framework not before published in C/MFT journals. This article will also demonstrate how those competencies are applicable to the education, training, and practice of telebehavioral health by C/MFTs. Implications for educational, service, and regulatory organizations are presented.