Telebehavioral health is almost as effective as in-person care when it comes to decreasing depression and anxiety among rural populations, a recent study found.
The study, published in BMC Psychiatry, analyzed 1,514 patients using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to measure depression and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to measure anxiety. The PHQ-9 score is out of 27 points and GAD-7 is out of 21. The researchers compared patients’ baseline scores to a one-month follow-up. They found that PHQ-9 score reductions averaged 2.8 points for the telehealth group and 2.9 points for the in-person group. GAD-7 score reductions averaged two points for the telehealth group and 2.4 points for the in-person group.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
“This study suggests that the telebehavioral health care delivered to rural areas is as effective as in-person care for anxiety and depression symptoms, an important reassurance with the continued expansion of telehealth beyond the pandemic surge in telehealth adoption,” the researchers said.
To conduct the study, the researchers looked at outcomes from two federal grant programs. One was the Evidence-based Telebehavioral Health Network Program, which was funded from September 2018 to August 2021. The second was the Substance Abuse Treatment Telehealth Network Grant Program, which was funded from September 2017 to August 2020. It looked at patients from the programs’ 17 grantees and 95 associated sites. Each grantee had data from both telehealth patients and in-person patients.
Rural populations especially struggle in accessing behavioral health care, and the Covid-19 pandemic only worsened the problem, according to the report. Stigma is often a barrier, and rural residents typically have to travel long distances to receive care, have higher rates of poverty, lower education and health literacy rates, and are less likely to be insured. Women and minority groups also have additional challenges because of childcare and discrimination.
“While the pandemic has exacerbated underlying mental health issues for many Americans, barriers to receiving mental health care have existed for years,” the researchers stated.
Telehealth is often cited as a solution to reach rural residents, especially for behavioral health due to its privacy and convenience. However, there is not much research comparing telebehavioral health to in-person care in rural areas, the researchers claimed.
“Randomized control trials and subsequent reviews demonstrate the efficacy of telebehavioral health and have failed to detect significant differences between in-person and telehealth interventions,” the study stated. “However, many previous studies have limited generalizability and frequently lack diversity in patient populations with rural and minority patients often being underrepresented. More pragmatic research is needed to understand effectiveness in real world settings and specifically among rural populations.”
Photo: marekuliasz, Getty Images
