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Digital technology for management of severe mental disorders in low-income and middle-income countries
Open accessAbstract
Purpose of review: Increasingly, digital technologies, especially mobile telecommunications and smartphone apps, are seen as a novel tool for managing severe mental disorders (SMDs) in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, there is a need to identify best practices in the use of digital technologies to effectively reach, support, and manage care for patients living with SMDs. In this review, we summarize recent studies using digital technology to manage symptoms and support clinical care for this patient population and discuss new opportunities to advance digital psychiatry research and practice in LMICs. Recent findings: Studies evaluating digital interventions for clinical populations living with SMDs in LMICs are limited. Yet, across recent articles surveyed, digital technology appears to yield diverse benefits for this at-risk patient population. These benefits include improved medication adherence, appointment adherence, reduced instances of relapse, and fewer re-hospitalizations. Summary: Continued rigorous research evaluating effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of digital technologies in reaching, treating, and managing symptoms and supporting clinical care for patients with SMDs in LMICs is vital. The urgency for remote approaches for delivering specialized psychiatric care is particularly pronounced because of the immediate and long-term impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on access to in-person services. Future research should emphasize participatory approaches rooted in a process of codesign with target users, in order to achieve clinically effective remotely delivered digital mental health interventions.
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“Concerns about loss or damage of devices and lack of network connection are challenges frequently documented in other LMIC studies (Bhardwaj et al., 2020; Merchant et al., 2020).”
From Mobile technology and task shifting to improve access to alcohol treatment services in Mozambique (2022) · cites this paper as Merchant et al., 2020
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Merchant, R., Torous, J., Rodriguez-Villa, E., & Naslund, J. A.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Naslund, John A.
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Psychiatry
- Published
- 2020-06-09
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 501-507
- ISSN
- 0951-7367 (ISSN-L)
- 1473-6578
- PMC
- PMC7398830
- OpenAlex
- W3033971361
- Cited by
- 70
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 7
- FWCI
- 1.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (215843/Z/19/Z, WT215843/Z/19/Z)
- National Institutes of Health (5u19mh113211-05)
- National Institute of Mental Health (U19 MH-113211, K23MH116130)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Keywords
- severe mental illness, digital mental health interventions, mobile health, mobile application, low- and middle-income countries, medication adherence, relapse prevention, hospital readmission, remote psychiatric care, COVID-19 pandemic, participatory design, co-design, cost-effectiveness
- MeSH terms
- Betacoronavirus, Internet-Based Intervention, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Mental Disorders, Developing Countries, Humans, Pneumonia, Viral, Socioeconomic Factors, Telemedicine, Coronavirus Infections, Pandemics
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