Perspectives,Experiences,and Practices in the Use of Digital Information Technologies in the Management of Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder in Health Care Systems in Colombia

Abstract

Digital information technologies are increasingly used in the treatment of mental health disorders. Through this qualitative study, researchers illuminated perspectives, experiences, and practices among diverse stakeholders in the use of digital information technologies in the management of depression and alcohol use disorders in Colombia. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted in five primary care institutions across Colombia. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The use of technology in the treatment of mental health disorders can facilitate the evaluation and diagnosis, treatment, and promotion and prevention of mental health disorders, as well as multiple nonmental health applications in the primary care setting. Potential barriers to the use of technology in this setting include challenges of digital literacy, access to technology, confidentiality, and financing. This study can inform the implementation of digital information technologies in the care of depression and problematic alcohol use within health care systems in Colombia.

Keywords

implementation research qualitative methods Latin America Colombia technology depression alcohol primary health care qualitative

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andreassen

H. K.

Trondsen

Kummervold

P. E.

Gammon

Hjortdahl

(2006). Patients who use e-mediated communication with their doctor: New constructions of trust in the patient-doctor relationship. Qualitative Health Research, 16(2), 238–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305284667

Arboleda

M. A.

(2010). Online psychiatry. Telemedicine applied to mental health. Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. http://www.psiquiatria.org.co/BancoMedios/DocumentosPDF/3cr_monografia_telepsiquiatria.pdf

Barbour

. (2001). Checklists for Improving Rigour in Qualitative Research: A Case of the Tail Wagging the Dog? Bmj, 322, 1115–1117. doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7294.111

Beléndez

Suriá

(2010). Apoyo a un «click» de ratón: los foros de Internet para problemas de salud [Support is just a mouse click away: Health-related Internet Forums]. Acción Psicológica, 7(1), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.5944/ap.7.1.202

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Campo-Arias

Oviedo

H. C.

Herazo

(2014). Prevalence of symptoms, possible cases, and mental illness in victims of the internal armed conflict in situations of displacement in Colombia: A systematic review. Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría, 43, 177–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcp.2014.07.003

Chaskel

Gaviria

S. L.

Espinel

Taborda

Vanegas

Shultz

J. M.

(2015). Mental health in Colombia. BJPsych International, 12(4), 95–97. https://doi.org/10.1192/S2056474000000660

Chevalier

(2018, July 6). Share of individuals who owned a smartphone in Colombia in 2016 and 2017. https://www.statista.com/statistics/878141/share-individual-smartphone-owners-colombia/

Dilkes-Frayne

Savic

Carter

Kokanovic

Lubman

D. I.

(2019). Going online: The affordances of online counseling for families affected by alcohol and other drug issues. Qualitative Health Research, 29, 2010–2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732319838231

10.

Garay-Fernández

J. D.

Gómez-Restrepo

(2011). Telepsychiatry: Mental healthcare innovation. A general perspective. Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría, 40, 504–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-7450(14)60143-8

11.

Gilgun

(2019). Deductive qualitative analysis and grounded theory: Sensitizing concepts and hypothesis-testing. In Bryant

Charmaz

(Eds.), The SAGE handbook of current developments in grounded theory (pp. 107–122). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526436061.n7

12.

Global Health Observatory (GHO) Data. (n.d.). https://www.who.int/gho/mental_health/human_resources/psychiatrists_nurses/en/

13.

Gómez-Restrepo

(2003). The post-conflict in Colombia: Challenges for psychiatry. Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría, 32, 130–132.

14.

Guest

MacQueen

K. M.

Namey

E. E.

(2011). Applied thematic analysis. Sage.

15.

Huang

Y.-H.

I.-J.

(2009). Does health related quality of life differ between people with chronic mental illness who use computers and those who do not? In Stephanidis

(Ed.), Universal access in human-computer interaction: Users diversity (pp. 361–365). Springer.

16.

Hyler

S. E.

Gangure

D. P.

(2004). Legal and ethical challenges in telepsychiatry. Journal of Psychiatric Practice, 10(4), 272–276.

17.

Kim

Sefcik

J. S.

Bradway

(2017). Characteristics of qualitative descriptive studies: A systematic review. Research in Nursing & Health, 40(1), 23–42. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.21768

18.

Levitt

H. M.

Motulsky

S. L.

Wertz

F. J.

Morrow

S. L.

Ponterotto

J. G.

(2017). Recommendations for designing and reviewing qualitative research in psychology: Promoting methodological integrity. Qualitative Psychology, 4, 2–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000082

19.

Marin-Torres

Valverde Aliaga

Sanchez Miro

Saenz Del Castillo Vicente

M. I.

Polentinos-Castro

Garrido Barral

(2013). Internet as an information source for health in primary care patients and its influence on the physician-patient relationship. Aten Primaria, 45(1), 46–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aprim.2012.09.004

20.

Marsch

L. A.

Gustafson

D. H.

(2013). The role of technology in health care innovation: A commentary. Journal of Dual Diagnosis, 9(1), 101–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/15504263.2012.750105

21.

McDonald

(2018). Digital in 2018: World’s Internet users pass the 4 billion mark. We Are Social. https://wearesocial.com/us/blog/2018/01/global-digital-report-2018

22.

Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social. (2012). 10th Public Health Plan 2012—2021. http://www.minsalud.gov.co/DocumentosyPublicaciones/PlanDecenal—Documentoenconsultaparaaprobación.pdf

23.

Ministerio de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones. (2017a). 75% of Colombians used the internet in the past year. http://www.mintic.gov.co/portal/604/w3-article-57529.html

24.

Ministerio de Telcnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones. (2017b). TIC Trimestral Bulletin—Data from the 1st trimerster of 2017. https://colombiatic.mintic.gov.co/679/w3-article55212.html

25.

Naslund

J. A.

Aschbrenner

K. A.

Araya

Marsch

L. A.

Unutzer

Patel

Bartels

S. J.

(2017). Digital technology for treating and preventing mental disorders in low-income and middle-income countries: A narrative review of the literature. Lancet Psychiatry, 4(6), 486–500. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366(17)30096-2

26.

National Institute of Mental Health. (2017). Technology and the future of mental health treatment. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/technology-and-the-future-of-mental-health-treatment/index.shtml

27.

Nowell

S. N.

Norris

J. M.

White

D. E.

Moules

N. J.

(2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847

28.

NVivo Qualitative Data Analysis Software Version 11. (2015). QSR International Pty Ltd. https://www.qsrinternational.com/nvivo/home

29.

Pan American Health Organization. (2012). Global Mental Health Day: Depression is the most common mental disorder. http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7305%3A2012-dia-mundial-salud-mental-depresion-trastorno-mental-mas-frecuente&Itemid=1926&lang=es

30.

Pan American Health Organization & World Health Organization. (2016). Implementation of the global action program to overcome the mental health gaps - mhGAP- in the region of the Americas. http://iris.paho.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/33715

31.

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. (2016). Research about mental health between Dartmouth College and Javeriana University. http://www.javeriana.edu.co/investigacion/salud-mental-darmouth-college-javeriana

32.

Posada-Villa

J. A.

Aguilar-Gaxiola

S. A.

Magaña

C. G.

Gómez

L. C.

(2004). Prevalence of mental health disorders and use of services: preliminary results from the National Study of Mental Health. Colombia, 2003. Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría, 33(3), 241–262.

33.

Puerto

G. A. S.

Rincón

E. H. H.

Obando

F. S.

(2016). Use of mobile health applications with internal medicine patients at the regional hospital of Duitama, Boyacá, Colombia. Revista Cubana de Informacion en Ciencias de la Salud, 27(3), 271–285.

34.

Sandelowski

(2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description? Research in Nursing & Health, 23(4), 334–340. https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-240X(200008)23:4<334::AID-NUR9>3.0.CO;2-G

35.

Statista Research Department. (2015, November 2). Internet user penetration in Colombia from 2013 to 2019. https://www.statista.com/statistics/379965/columbia-internet-user-penetration/

36.

Välimäki

Hatonen

Lahti

Kuosmanen

Adams

C. E.

(2012). Information and communication technology in patient education and support for people with schizophrenia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 10, CD007198. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007198.pub2

37.

Vargas

Mogollón-Pérez

A. S.

De Paepe

Ferreira

Silva

M. R.

Unger

J.-P.

Vázquez

M.-L.

(2016). Barriers to healthcare coordination in market-based and decentralized public health systems: A qualitative study in healthcare networks of Colombia and Brazil. Health Policy and Planning, 31(6), 736–748. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czv126

38.

Whitebird

R. R.

Solberg

L. I.

Margolis

K. L.

Asche

S. E.

Trangle

M. A.

Wineman

A. P

. (2013). Barriers to improving primary care of depression: perspectives of medical group leaders. Qual Health Res, 23(6), 805–814. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732313

39.

World Health Organization. (2004). Invest in: Mental health. http://www.who.int/mental_health/advocacy/en/spanish_final.pdf

40.

World Health Organization. (2011). 2010 Report about the global situation of non-transmissable, Orientation summary. http://www.who.int/nmh/publications/ncd_report_summary_es.pdf

41.

World Health Organization. (2017). Mental illnesses. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs396/es/

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.47 MB