The Perceived Benefits of Digital Interventions for Behavioral Health: Qualitative Interview Study

Buis, LR (通讯作者),Univ Michigan, Dept Family Med, 1018 Fuller St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA.
2022-3-11
Background: Digital interventions have gained momentum in terms of behavioral health. However, owing to lacking standard approaches or tools for creating digital behavioral interventions, clinical researchers follow widely varying conceptions of how best to go about digital intervention development. Researchers also face significant cost-, time-, and expertise-related challenges in digital intervention development. Improving the availability of tools and guidance for researchers will require a thorough understanding of the motivations and needs of researchers seeking to create digital interventions. Objective: This study aims to understand the perceptions of behavioral researchers toward digital interventions, and inform the use of these interventions, by documenting the reasons why researchers are increasingly focusing their efforts on digital interventions and their perspectives on the perceived benefits that digital approaches can provide for researchers and intervention recipients. Methods: We conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with 18 researchers who had experience designing digital behavioral interventions or running studies with them. A convenience sample of interviewees was recruited from among users of the Computerized Intervention Authoring System platform, a web-based tool that facilitates the process of creating and deploying digital interventions in behavioral research. Interviews were conducted over teleconference between February and April 2020. Recordings from the interviews were transcribed and thematically analyzed by multiple coders. Results: Interviews were completed with 18 individuals and lasted between 24 and 65 (mean 46.9, SD 11.3) minutes. Interviewees were predominantly female (17/18, 94%) and represented different job roles, ranging from researcher to project or study staff. Four major themes came out of the interviews concerning the benefits of digital interventions for behavioral health: convenience and flexibility for interventionists and recipients, support for implementing evidence-based interventions with fidelity, scaling and improving access to interventions, and getting a foot in the door despite stigma and disenfranchisement. Conclusions: Interviewees described a number of important potential benefits of digital interventions, particularly with respect to scientific rigor, scalability, and overcoming barriers to reaching more people. There are complex considerations with regard to translating behavior change strategies into digital forms of delivery, and interventionists make individual, sometimes unexpected, choices with minimal evidence of their relative effectiveness. Future research should investigate how behavioral researchers can be supported in making these choices toward usability, ease of access, and approachability of digital interventions. Our study underscores the need for authoring platforms that can facilitate the process of creating and deploying digital interventions to reach their full potential for interventionists and recipients alike.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH
卷号:24|期号:3
ISSN:1438-8871|收录类别:SCIE
语种
英语
来源机构
University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Michigan State University; Michigan State University; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
资助机构
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health(United States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering (NIBIB))
资助信息
This research was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health under grant number EB028990 to SJO. The authors would like to thank Lilly Pritula and Rania Ajilat for administrative support, including manuscript editing, and the interviewees who made this study possible.
被引频次(WOS)
1
被引频次(其他)
1
180天使用计数
1
2013以来使用计数
2
出版年
2022-3-11
DOI
10.2196/34300
学科领域
循证公共卫生
关键词
computers mobile apps screening brief interventions diagnosis computer-assisted/methods surveys and questionnaires motivational interviewing therapy computer-assisted/methods implementation qualitative mobile phone
WOS学科分类
Health Care Sciences & Services Medical Informatics