Data Handling for E-Mental Health Professionals

Digital psychiatry and e-mental health have proliferated and permeated vastly in the current landscape of mental health care provision. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated this digital transformation, and changes that usually take many years to translate into clinical practice have been implemented in a matter of weeks. These have outpaced the checks and balances that would typically accompany such changes, which has brought into focus a need to have a proper approach for digital data handling. Health care data is sensitive, and is prone to hacking due to the lack of stringent protocols regarding its storage and access. Mental health care data need to be more secure due to the stigma associated with having a mental health condition. Thus, there is a need to emphasize proper data handling by mental health professionals, and policies to ensure safeguarding patient’s privacy are required. The aim of useful, free, and fair use of mental health care data for clinical, business, and research purposes should be balanced with the need to ensure the data is accessible to only those who are authorized. Systems and policies should be in place to ensure that data storage, access, and disposal are systematic and conform to data safety norms.