Abstract:
Telemental health is an emerging and interesting alternative to traditional mental health services that entails physical separation between patients and mental health professionals. The utility of telemental health has become increasingly apparent globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, and locally during the ongoing crisis in Lebanon. A review of the literature reveals that most studies pertaining to telemental health have focused on professionals’ perspectives with patients relegated to the background. Even fewer studies were conducted in the Arab world and Lebanon in particular. Lastly, no study to date has evaluated the association between public stigma and telemental health attitudes in the Global South countries. Based on these perceived gaps in the scientific literature, this study aims to identify the potential variables that could be associated with attitudes towards telemental health use. To pursue our objectives, we recruited a community sample of 300 English and Arabic speaking adults in Lebanon. Participants were asked to complete several questionnaires. These questionnaires allowed us to evaluate the association between sociodemographic and participant-related factors, subjective recognition of mental health problem(s) and the need for help, objective mental distress, public stigma, openness to experience, confidence in mental health professionals and telemental health-seeking attitudes.
Our results revealed that age, mental distress levels and technological skills are positively associated with telemental health seeking attitudes in a community sample in Lebanon. We also found structural barriers to telemental health care to be negatively associated with telemental health seeking attitudes. The increased popularity and usefulness of telemental health, the results obtained from this study are likely to have research and clinical implications.
