House calls revisited: leveraging technology to overcome obstacles to veteran psychiatric care and improve treatment outcomes

• Type of Material: Conference Paper
• Authors: Megan Olden, Cornell University; Judith Cukor, Cornell University; Albert "Skip" Rizzo, University of Southern California; Barbara Rothbaum, Emory University; JoAnn Difede, Cornell University
• Language: English
• Date: 2010-01-01
• Publisher: Emory University Libraries
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2010 Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05756.x
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: PSYCHIATRIC AND NEUROLOGIC ASPECTS OF WAR
• Conference or Event Name: 89th Annual Conference of the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease
• Volume: 1208
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 133
• End Page: +
• Keywords: Psychiatry; COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; TELEMEDICINE; POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER; MENTAL-HEALTH PROBLEMS; TRAUMATIC BRAIN-INJURY; OIF/OEF veterans; EXPOSURE THERAPY; ANGER MANAGEMENT; virtual reality; videoconferencing; telemedicine; Science & Technology; FAMILY CAREGIVERS; TELEPSYCHIATRY; RANDOMIZED-TRIAL; Neurosciences; barriers to care; Neurosciences & Neurology
• Research Categories: Psychology, General; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

Despite an increasing number of military service members in need of mental health treatment following deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, numerous psychological and practical barriers limit access to care. Perceived stigma about admitting psychological difficulties as well as frequent long distances to treatment facilities reduce many veterans' willingness and ability to receive care. Telemedicine and virtual human technologies offer a unique potential to expand services to those in greatest need. Telemedicine-based treatment has been used to address multiple psychiatric disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use, as well as to provide suicide risk assessment and intervention. Clinician education and training has also been enhanced and expanded through the use of distance technologies, with trainees practicing clinical skills with virtual patients and supervisors connecting with clinicians via videoconferencing. The use of these innovative and creative vehicles offers a significant and as yet unfulfilled promise to expand delivery of high-quality psychological therapies, regardless of clinician and patient location.