Background

Digital mental health services (DMHS) provide highly accessible psychological supports and interventions that can supplement existing mental health services. Concerns about the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have been widespread and provide a unique impetus to examine the utility and responsivity of DMHS. This study examined the service utilisation and user characteristics of two DMHS (THIS WAY UP and Just a Thought) in Australia and New Zealand before and during the early pandemic period in these countries (March to June 2020).

Methods

Service use indices (website visits, course registrations and prescriptions, clinician registrations) were compared across different time periods before (12, 6 and 3 months) and during the pandemic in Australia and New Zealand. The demographic and clinical characteristics of course registrants (anxiety and depression symptom severity and psychological distress) were also compared across the pre- and during-COVID periods.

Results

Comparing pre-COVID to during-COVID time periods, we observed substantial increases across all service use indices in both DMHS (increases of >100% on the majority of service use indices). For example, in the 3 months prior to the pandemic, 2806 people registered for a THIS WAY UP course and 1907 people registered for a Just a Thought course, whereas 21,872 and 5442 registered for a THIS WAY UP and Just a Thought course, respectively, during the first 3 months of the COVID pandemic. Slight differences in the demographic and clinical profiles of course registrants were found between pre- and during-COVID time periods, with limited evidence of elevated anxiety and depression symptom severity in the COVID period.

Conclusions

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia and New Zealand, the volume of users accessing DMHS increased yet the demographic and clinical characteristics of course registrants remained stable. Results underscore how nimble and scalable DMHS can be during periods of high demand.

中文翻译：

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两个国家的故事：澳大利亚和新西兰在 COVID-19 大流行期间增加了数字心理健康服务的使用

背景

数字心理健康服务 (DMHS) 提供易于获取的心理支持和干预措施，可以补充现有的心理健康服务。人们普遍担心 COVID-19 大流行对心理健康的影响，这为检查 DMHS 的实用性和响应性提供了独特的动力。本研究调查了澳大利亚和新西兰的两个 DMHS（THIS WAY UP 和 Just a Thought）在疫情爆发之前和期间（2020 年 3 月至 2020 年 6 月）期间的服务利用率和用户特征。

方法

对澳大利亚和新西兰大流行之前的不同时间段（12、6 和 3 个月）以及大流行期间的服务使用指数（网站访问量、课程注册和处方、临床医生注册）进行了比较。还比较了新冠肺炎之前和期间课程注册者的人口统计和临床特征（焦虑和抑郁症状的严重程度和心理困扰）。

结果

与新冠疫情之前和新冠疫情期间相比，我们观察到 DMHS 的所有服务使用指数均大幅增长（大多数服务使用指数增长超过 100%）。例如，在疫情爆发前的三个月内，有 2806 人注册了“THIS WAY UP”课程，1907 人注册了“Just a Thought”课程，而分别有 21,872 人和 5442 人注册了“THIS WAY UP”和“Just a Thought”课程，在新冠肺炎大流行的前三个月。在新冠疫情之前和期间，课程注册者的人口统计和临床特征存在轻微差异，但表明新冠疫情期间焦虑和抑郁症状严重程度升高的证据有限。

结论

澳大利亚和新西兰爆发 COVID-19 后，访问 DMHS 的用户数量有所增加，但课程注册者的人口统计和临床特征保持稳定。结果凸显了 DMHS 在高需求时期的灵活性和可扩展性。