An international expert survey on the worldwide digitalization in psychiatry: Global findings from the WPA survey

Background

The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Working Group on Digital Psychiatry aims to digitally supplement, support and improve mental health and care literacy, acceptance and accessibility across WPA member countries and National Psychiatric Associations (NPAs). To help with this goal, the present study was set to explore first the global status of digital mental health and care across NPAs

Methods

An international expert survey on the digitalization level across all 145 WPA NPAs was electronically distributed through Qualtrics. Descriptive statistics were carried out on the global dataset.

Results

Across all 145 responses, 57 were included for analysis (39.3 % response rate). Most NPAs reported lacking an official section on digital mental health (73.7 %), missing national (59.6 %) or regional policies (82.5 %), clinical guidelines (>60 % depending on the digital tool/program), and education/training in both medicine (77.2 %) either and psychiatry training programs (71.9 %). Telemedicine seemed to be the most regulated digital tool in more than half of all included NPAs. Telemedicine (45.6 %) and telemental healthcare (38.6 %) were generally reimbursed. The reported highest priority areas for future actions across WPA Regions were education and training, and the development of guidelines.

Conclusion

This study represents a benchmark in the work of the WG on Digital Psychiatry. It presents clear priority areas that will guide the delivery of targeted actions aimed to promote digital mental health and care, and ultimately, equitable mental health outcomes around the world. Overall, the highest priorities to be globally implemented are represented by education/training and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.