Blended Therapies and Mobile Phones for Improving the Health of Female Victims of Gender Violence.

Yolanda García,Carlos Ferrás

doi:10.3390/healthcare10030445

Yolanda García, Carlos Ferrás

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10030445

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Abstract

We carried out a case study with a group of female victims of gender violence (n = 39) with the objective of evaluating a blended psychotherapeutic intervention. The results show that blended therapies with mobile text messages combined with face-to-face group therapies significantly improved the health of these women. Mood states and the symptoms of depression were measured with a PHQ-9 personal health questionnaire and evolved positively. In the group of women (n = 39) the scores improved from an initial 13.5 (SD = 7.2, range 3–34) to 6.0 at the end of the period of messages (SD = 5.2, range 0–18), which was a significant difference (t (39) = 2.02; p = 0.000). Most of the women stated that the messages had helped them improve their mood (91.6%) and their general health (83.3%), which made them feel more connected to their social environment (80.6%). We observed that adherence to medication for each woman improved. With mixed therapies and mobile phones, social service professionals can incorporate technology into daily practices and offer personalized attention and daily counseling to victims of gender-based violence.

Highlights

In psychology-based approaches, experimental studies were conducted on online mental health therapies using text messages to the mobile phones of patients suffering from depression, anxiety, alcoholism, addictions, etc., combining such online therapies with traditional face-to-face care [9–17]
We focused on the design and evaluation of a blended therapy intervention, with the goal of improving the biopsychosocial health of a group of female victims of gender violence
We found a direct relationship between participation in the face-to-face group therapies and personal willingness to provide the personal identification code (PIC) code; 21 women out of the 23 who allowed access to their personal medication data attended the group therapy sessions organized during the intervention period (91.3%)

Summary

Introduction

According to Baker et al [1], Peláez et al [2], and Bullock and Colvin [3], social services professionals need to adopt a practice-based approach to integrate information technologies and mobile communications into their professional activity. Such technologies are becoming increasingly pervasive, and their use in social services needs to be discussed and understood in depth [4–7], as well as their ethical implications and how negative attitudes towards technology in social work can be challenged [8].

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