Peer-reviewed article
T102. TELEPROM-Y: IMPROVING ACCESS AND EXPERIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTHCARE FOR YOUTH THROUGH VIRTUAL MODELS OF CARE
Forchuk C, Collins K, Eichstedt J, Reiss J, Booth R et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001TELEPROM-Y is a study of a smartphone app that helps young people aged 14-25 access mental healthcare through virtual visits and digital tools. The app allows youth to manage appointments, message providers, and have video consultations with mental health professionals across multiple healthcare organizations in Ontario. The research uses a pre-post mixed-methods design with 104 participants to evaluate whether the app improves access, experience, and outcomes while reducing costs.
Key points
- About 1 in 5 youth have a mental illness, with 75% of mental illnesses onset in childhood or adolescence
- 157,900 youth in Ontario rated their mental health as fair or poor
- The app enables appointment management, messaging, and virtual visits to reduce missed appointments
- Participants have diverse diagnoses including anxiety disorders (70.9%), mood disorders (68.0%), and ADHD (35.9%)
- The study uses participatory action research with semi-structured interviews at baseline, 6, and 12 months
Limitations
The document presents early descriptive results and anticipated outcomes rather than final findings, so it cannot yet demonstrate whether the intervention actually improves mental health outcomes, reduces costs, or prevents hospitalizations. The study design and sample are not yet complete, limiting conclusions about effectiveness.
Abstract
Abstract Background About 1 in 5 youth have a mental illness, with 75 percent of all mental illnesses having their onset in childhood or adolescence (Kim-Cohen et al., 2003). In Ontario, 157,900 youth rated their mental health as fair or poor, a significant increase from 2007 (Boak et al., 2014). Not only do mental health concerns cause difficulties at onset, they can also disrupt important life transitions and developmental milestones, as well as being burdensome throughout the individual’s lifespan (Ratnasingham et al., 2012). Consequently, new care approaches are needed. The TELEPROM-Y project will evaluate outpatient health care delivery using InputHealth’s electronic Collaborative Health Record (CHR) at London Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Woodstock General Hospital, and community agencies including Youth Opportunities Unlimited, WAYS Mental Health Support, and Leads Employment Services. Methods 120 youth (ages 14–25) will be recruited from the caseloads of 46 mental healthcare providers. Participants will use a smartphone application (app) to connect to the Collaborative Health Record. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted at baseline, 6, and 12 months. This is a participatory action research project utilizing a pre-post, mixed-methods design. A standardized evaluation framework will be instituted to facilitate systematic effectiveness, economic, ethical, and policy analyses. Some of the functions of the app, available for Apple and Android phones, include: making/changing/cancelling appointments; text messaging; emailing, and filling out questionnaires/surveys. If the youth are unable to attend a scheduled appointment in person, the care-provider and youth can have a virtual visit, similar to FaceTime or Skype. Virtual visits should reduce missed appointments. Results Descriptive information thus far of 104 participants: Psychotic Disorder (e.g. schizophrenia) (13, 12.6%), Developmental handicap (e.g. Autism) (7, 6.8%), Anxiety Disorder (e.g. PTSD) (73, 70.9%), Disorder of childhood/adolescence (e.g. ADHD) (37, 35.9%), Substance-related disorder (13, 12.6%), Personality Disorder (17, 16.5%), Mood Disorder (e.g. depression, bipolar mood disorder) (70, 68.0%), Unknown (4, 3.9%), Other (19, 18.4%). Discussion We anticipate that through the usage of the TELEPROM-Y app the participant and care-provider experience will be enhanced, leading to 1) improved healthcare outcomes and patient quality of life, and 2) reduced healthcare costs by preventing hospitalization and reducing the need for face-to-face outpatient visits.