Introduction of e-mental health in national health systems - a health professionals' perspective

Objectives Evidence exists that e-mental health applications for maternal depression could assist in diagnosing such conditions in an early stage. This study explores the intention of health professionals to use and recommend e-mental health applications and how they think these applications should be integrated in the national health system. Methods We applied an exploratory sequential mixed-method research design. First, we collect and analyze responses from 131 health professionals in the field of pregnancy and maternal care. Based on these findings, we conduct semi-structured interviews with 16 experts to expand on the initial results. Results Our study reveals that health professionals would in general intend to recommend and use e-mental health applications. However, their attitude towards e-mental health applications varies with respect to the coverage of the mental health process. Conclusion The results are of relevance for research and practice. Two scenarios are described that show how health professionals perceive an introduction of e-mental health to be useful