Personalizing Automated Interactivity between Treatment Providers and Clients

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Internet communication technologies facilitating one-to-one and many-to-one social and professional networks, and validated interactive computer-based assessments in support of clinical research and care have been available for many years. Development of these technologies and use of such patient-reported outcomes continue to expand and evolve rapidly. Improved outcomes for managing and treating a broad range of behavioral mental health problems (such as depression, anxiety, alcohol and other substance abuse disorders), as well as chronic health conditions such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity using these technologies have been demonstrated. Limited use of these technologies in "real world" treatment practices likely reflects system implementation barriers, such as resources to compensate additional time burdens, and mismatched fits between one-size-fits-all "stand alone" programs and the clinical styles of individual treatment providers. This application aims to address these barriers by prospectively focusing on the specific needs and desires of service providers for customizing patient care using these technologies and by facilitating system implementation into current clinical work flow practices. To achieve these aims, practicing treatment providers will (1) be provided education and insight into current, leading-edge interactive communication technologies that can be automated and configured on a client-by- client basis to promote treatment objectives and improve outcomes, (2) provide functional specifications for developing a web-based application that would permit clinicians to easily and efficiently create automated, personalized, interactive protocols, (3) field test a prototyped program that provides the specified functionality with outpatients recruited from the Psychiatric Research Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and (4) evaluate system usability and clinical utility from the perspectives of both the treatment providers and treated patients. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The promise of current electronic technologies for reducing healthcare costs, lightening treatment provider workload, and improving treatment outcomes can only be realized if the technologies are easy to use and meet the needs of treatment providers and their patients. Assisting providers and patients to use modern telecommunication technologies more effectively and easily in maintaining more frequent and personalized interactions would realize a part of the promise, but only if it were accomplished without significantly increasing treatment provider burden. This is the goal of the product proposed for development in this application.