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Telehealth During COVID-19: Suicide Prevention and American Indian Communities in Montana
- Source :
- Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association. 28(3)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Background: Public health measures that prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as social distancing, may increase the risk for suicide among American Indians due to decreased social connectedness that is crucial to wellbeing. Telehealth represents a potential solution, but barriers to effective suicide prevention may exist. Materials and Methods: In collaboration with Tribal and Urban Indian Health Center providers, this study measured suicide prevention practices during COVID-19. A 44-item Likert-type, web-based survey was distributed to Montana-based professionals who directly provide suicide prevention services to American Indians at risk for suicide. Descriptive statistics were calculated for survey items, and Mann-Whitney U tests examined the differences in telehealth use, training, skills among Montana geographic areas, and barriers between providers and their clients/patients. Results: Among the 80 respondents, two-thirds agreed or strongly agreed that American Indians experienced greater social disconnection since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Almost 98% agreed that telehealth was needed, and 93% were willing to use telehealth for suicide prevention services. Among current users, 75% agreed telehealth was effective for suicide prevention. Over one-third of respondents reported using telehealth for the first time during COVID-19 pandemic, and 30% use telehealth at least "usually" since the COVID-19 pandemic began, up from 6.3%. Compared with their own experiences, providers perceive their American Indian client/patients as experiencing greater barriers to telehealth. Discussion: Telehealth was increasingly utilized for suicide prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Opportunities to improve telehealth access should be explored, including investments in telehealth technologies for American Indians at risk for suicide.
- Subjects :
- Suicide Prevention
medicine.medical_specialty
Telemedicine
Descriptive statistics
Montana
SARS-CoV-2
Social distance
Public health
education
COVID-19
Health Informatics
General Medicine
Telehealth
Suicide prevention
Health Information Management
Family medicine
Pandemic
medicine
Humans
Disconnection
Psychology
Pandemics
health care economics and organizations
American Indian or Alaska Native
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15563669
- Volume :
- 28
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....255da32668a972da602596af3566b07e