Abstract
BackgroundAustralia’s mental health care system has long been fragmented and under-resourced, with services falling well short of demand. In response, the World Economic Forum has recently called for the rapid deployment of smarter, digitally enhanced health services to facilitate effective care coordination and address issues of demand. The University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre (BMC) has developed an innovative digital health solution that incorporates 2 components: a highly personalized and measurement-based (data-driven) model of youth mental health care and a health information technology (HIT) registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. Importantly, research into implementation of such solutions considers education and training of clinicians to be essential to adoption and optimization of use in standard clinical practice. The BMC’s Youth Mental Health and Technology Program has subsequently developed a comprehensive education and training program to accompany implementation of the digital health solution.ObjectiveThis paper describes the protocol for an evaluation study to assess the effectiveness of the education and training program on the adoption and optimization of use of the digital health solution in service delivery. It also describes the proposed tools to assess the impact of training on knowledge and skills of mental health clinicians.MethodsThe evaluation study will use the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model as a framework with 4 levels of analysis: Reaction (to education and training), Learning (knowledge acquired), Behavior (practice change), and Results (client outcomes). Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected using a variety of tools, including evaluation forms, pre- and postknowledge questionnaires, skill development and behavior change scales, as well as a real-time clinical practice audit.ResultsThis project is funded by philanthropic funding from Future Generation Global. Ethics approval has been granted via Sydney Local Health District’s Human Research Ethics Committee. At the time of this publication, clinicians and their services were being recruited to this study. The first results are expected to be submitted for publication in 2021.ConclusionsThe education and training program teaches clinicians the necessary knowledge and skills to assess, monitor, and manage complex needs; mood and psychotic syndromes; and trajectories of youth mental ill-health using a HIT that facilitates a highly personalized and measurement-based model of care. The digital health solution may therefore guide clinicians to help young people recover low functioning associated with subthreshold diagnostic presentations and prevent progression to more serious mental ill-health.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/24697
Highlights
Australia’s mental health care system has long been fragmented and under-resourced, with services falling well short of demand [1]
The digital health solution may guide clinicians to help young people recover low functioning associated with subthreshold diagnostic presentations and prevent progression to more serious mental ill-health
Data security, and privacy challenges that must be addressed in relation to the implementation of technology-based solutions [13], it has been noted that staff resistance to change and perceived technological complexity frequently present as barriers to the uptake of health information technologies (HITs) [16]
Summary
Australia’s mental health care system has long been fragmented and under-resourced, with services falling well short of demand [1]. The World Economic Forum has recently called for the “...rapid deployment of smarter, digitally-enhanced health services...” as a means of potentially addressing demand issues and facilitating effective care coordination [13]. Education and training that foster engagement and address the use of HITs in practice are essential for successful adoption and optimization of technology-enabled solutions in clinical practice [17]. This increasing need for training and upskilling of clinicians working in digitally enhanced mental health services has not been addressed in the existing literature, which has previously been limited to training specific to clinicians’ disciplines, treating specific diagnoses, or intervention modalities [18,19,20]. The BMC’s Youth Mental Health and Technology Program has subsequently developed a comprehensive education and training program to accompany implementation of the digital health solution
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