COVID-19, Rural Communities, and Implications of Telebehavioral Health Services: Addressing the Benefits and Challenges of Behavioral Health Services via Telehealth in Nebraska

Emily Freske,Benjamin Robert Malczyk

doi:10.3390/soc11040141

Abstract

Telehealth has been in use, in various forms, for over a century and is growing increasingly more popular. The current research sought to examine the prevalence, benefits, and challenges of telehealth for behavioral and mental health services in the state of Nebraska with a particular focus on rural communities. The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with the research endeavors and impacted the questions that were asked related to the use of telebehavioral health. Specifically, the research included an investigation of the rates of use of telebehavioral health across agencies and whether/how the pandemic impacted the use of telehealth services. The research included an initial examination of more than 50 behavioral health agencies to assess overall utilization of telehealth. Researchers then conducted interviews with 15 practitioners to discuss the challenges and benefits associated with telehealth services. Key results suggest that implementation of telehealth in Nebraska has resulted in increased access to services among rural residents and has deeply impacted clinical practice. Additionally, clinicians identified specific benefits and challenges of telebehavioral health. It was also noted that the majority of clinicians plan to continue providing services via telehealth if the policies and regulations remain as they are post-COVID-19. Implications of this research highlight the efficiency and effectiveness of using telehealth to increase access.

Highlights

The current study examined the use of telehealth throughout rural Nebraska and examined practitioners’ perspectives on the utilization of telebehavioral health (TBH)
What follows is a brief summary of the telehealth literature, followed by a description of the current study’s methodology, results, and a discussion outlining how the findings provide new knowledge and understanding about the interplay of telehealth, COVID-19, and rural communities
What are the impacts of telehealth services? This includes the impacts on clients as well as service provision and practices

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The impact of COVID-19 across the world has been pervasive, profound, and in many cases, long lasting. The full extent of the death toll, increased stress and isolation, economic loss, and numerous negative impacts can never be quantified. The global pandemic has even changed human interactions, with some of these changes likely persisting beyond the pandemic. The impacts have not all been negative. The virus has caused an “emergence by emergency” [1]—wherein potentially disruptive and technologically aided improvements have been sped up. The rapid uptake and utilization of telehealth, including in medicine, as well as mental and behavioral health, serves as one example of a service whose time has come

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion