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Recommendations for the Reporting of Telemental Health (TMH) Literature Based on a Systematic Review of Clinical Video Teleconferencing (CVT) and Depression

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Abstract

Telemental health (TMH) is an established mode of providing mental health care at a distance using technology. As real-world applications of clinical video teleconferencing (CVT) have grown, so have articles reporting or reviewing CVT interventions. Key CVT information may be omitted, not adequately or uniformly described, thus jeopardizing comparability and reproducibility of CVT interventions. Detailed and uniform standards and terms for reporting CVT interventions are needed. We conducted a comprehensive review of the evidence base of secure CVT interventions for depression to assess the descriptors and terminology used to describe CVT interventions. In addition to identifying and to evaluating relevant articles, we identify and make best practice recommendations for the field to improve the reporting, comparability, and reproducibility of CVT interventions. Using comprehensive search strategies executed in several databases, we identified articles published through the end of 2014 that described the assessment and treatment of depression using secure CVT. We retrieved 5948 records. After removing duplicates and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria to abstracts and titles and full-text articles, 33 remained. Two thirds (66%) of these articles described psychiatric services. There were several deficits in the information provided about key CVT factors. Using a systematic review of CVT and depression as a base, we demonstrated that there is a clear need for standardization to describe CVT interventions in the literature. Standards to ensure key information is included, sufficiently and uniformly described that would increase the accurate reporting, comparability, and reproducibility of the CVT interventions and would benefit the field overall.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. VA Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Avenue, 116B, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA

    Erica A. Abel, Cynthia A. Brandt & Linda Godleski

  2. Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Erica A. Abel, Janis Glover, Cynthia A. Brandt & Linda Godleski

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  1. Erica A. Abel
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  2. Janis Glover
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  3. Cynthia A. Brandt
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Correspondence to Erica A. Abel.

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US Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Telehealth Services, National Telemental Health Center, and Office of Academic Affiliations, Medical Informatics Fellowship.

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Abel, E.A., Glover, J., Brandt, C.A. et al. Recommendations for the Reporting of Telemental Health (TMH) Literature Based on a Systematic Review of Clinical Video Teleconferencing (CVT) and Depression. J. technol. behav. sci. 2, 28–40 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-016-0003-1

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