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How Barriers and Facilitators Relate to Healthcare Professionals’ Usage Patterns of Digital Mental Health Platforms : A Mixed-Methods Study
Asselt, Leonie van (2025) How Barriers and Facilitators Relate to Healthcare Professionals’ Usage Patterns of Digital Mental Health Platforms : A Mixed-Methods Study.
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| Abstract: | Digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) are rapidly evolving, leading to a lot of research to better understand and employ these interventions. One type of widely used digital mental health intervention is e-mental health platforms. Previous research has identified barriers and facilitators to platform adoption, but how these perceived factors relate to healthcare professionals’ actual usage patterns is poorly understood. The aim of this mixed-methods study was to examine how mental healthcare professionals’ perceived barriers and facilitators relate to their actual usage patterns on DMHI platforms used by mental health organizations throughout the Netherlands. Log data was collected from three different DMHI platforms. This data was analysed using principal component analyses and cluster analyses to identify usage patterns. Additionally, semi-structured interviews of 11 professionals were analysed to gain more insight into platform usage, and perceived barriers and facilitators. The analyses revealed that two consistent user profiles emerged across all platforms: communication-focused users and administration-focused users. The platforms also revealed varying levels of usage intensity. The qualitative data identified barriers and facilitators that potentially play a role in the different usage patterns. Commonly identified barriers included technical issues. Facilitators included improved caseload management and client monitoring. However, barriers and facilitators may also emerge from usage patterns themselves, as professionals who frequently use certain features encounter barriers individuals using other features might not. The findings demonstrate future research should explore the relationship between usage patterns and therapeutic outcomes to determine which approaches are most effective for mental health professionals and clients, as well as how certain barriers and facilitators develop over time. Limitations of the study include the small qualitative interview sample and the inability to measure the effectiveness of different usage patterns. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/107589 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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