We must include rural participants in health-related research if we are to address health-related disparities and inequity, particularly in mental health. However, the first step of the research process in person—witnessed, signed, informed consent—is often a limiting factor and insurmountable barrier to precisely the type of research (e.g., telehealth) designed to overcome barriers of geographic distance and travel time. Telehealth, or the provision of medical care or services to patients by means of audio/video and procedure-specific technology, addresses some barriers to health created by rurality by making health care professionals more accessible to patients. A logical complement to telehealth is “teleconsent.” Teleconsent can be defined as using remote, facial integrated identity verification to allow (a) remote guidance of participants through consent documents, and (b) digital signing by all parties, obviating the need for in-person signed consent. The ability to review and sign consent documents via telehealth with synchronous viewing is a novel, innovative means by which to overcome the initial significant barrier to recruitment of rural participants into health care research. By leveraging the growing capabilities of telehealth, teletailoring studies can improve the efficiency of research recruitment and facilitate the consent process for underrepresented populations in research. Strategies for implementation are clearly relevant to increasing the success of clinical trial recruitment.

中文翻译：

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技术作为解决心理健康研究差异的手段：“远程定制”研究方法的指南。


如果我们要解决与健康相关的不平等和不平等问题，特别是在心理健康方面，我们就必须让农村参与者参与与健康相关的研究。然而，研究过程的第一步——见证、签署、知情同意——往往是旨在克服地理距离和旅行时间障碍的研究类型（例如远程医疗）的限制因素和难以克服的障碍。远程医疗，即通过音频/视频和特定程序技术向患者提供医疗护理或服务，通过让患者更容易接触到医疗保健专业人员，解决了农村地区造成的一些健康障碍。远程医疗的合理补充是“远程同意”。远程同意可以定义为使用远程面部集成身份验证，以允许（a）通过同意文件远程指导参与者，以及（b）所有各方进行数字签名，从而无需亲自签署同意。通过同步观看的远程医疗审查和签署同意文件的能力是一种新颖的创新手段，可以克服招募农村参与者参与医疗保健研究的最初重大障碍。通过利用远程医疗不断增长的能力，远程定制研究可以提高研究招募的效率，并促进研究中代表性不足的人群的同意过程。实施策略显然与提高临床试验招募的成功率相关。