BARRIERS AND CONTRIBUTORS TO SUCCESS IN TELEMEDICINE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF A STRUGGLING TELEPSYCHIATRY PROJECT AND A SAMPLING OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMMES.

Abstract

Telemedicine programmes, though popular and increasingly effective, can sometimes fail with little indication as to why they did so. This study provides first a qualitative analysis of the authors' failed telepsychiatry project, and second, an interview study completed with personnel from successful telepsychiatry programmes. Together, these shed light on what went wrong with the authors' project, and also provide insight about critical factors for telepsychiatry success. Findings suggest the sophistication or features of the technology are not key factors in failure or success. Instead, community, patient-based, and study-specific barriers were most commonly cited as issues that inhibited study recruitment and enrolment. Based on these findings, recommendations are provided to address common barriers and increase the likelihood of success in telepsychiatry.