Abstracts Health Sciences

Increasing Adherence to Psychotherapy Treatment in Adult Mental Health Patients Through the Use of Tele-Behavioral Services: An Integrative Review

by Almaz Assefaw

Telebehavioral therapy has been developing in recent years as a viable alternative to in-person provider treatment. This was due, in part, to the recent COVID-19 pandemic necessitating rapid and widespread adoption of remote care services in general. Before this event, and despite years of development in telemental and telebehavioral technology, the U.S. rate of adoption of such services had been low. As psychotherapy is an effective way to treat mental health issues with or without the use of psychotropic drugs, ways to increase patient adherence to psychotherapy must be studied to provide high-quality mental health outcomes. One measure that has been identified to increase adherence to psychotherapy is the use of telebehavioral services. This integrative review shows that the use of telebehavioral health services can increase the likelihood of psychotherapy treatment plan adherence in the adult populations.