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Perception of Mental Health Care Professionals in Saudi Arabia on Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Observational Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Mental health disorders are common in Saudi Arabia with a 34% lifetime prevalence. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of psychotherapy, is an evidence-based intervention for the majority of mental disorders. Although the demand for CBT is increasing, unfortunately, there are few...

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Autores principales: AlHadi, Ahmad N, Alammari, Khawla A, Alsiwat, Lojain J, Alhaidri, Nojood E, Alabdulkarim, Nouf H, Altwaijri, Nouf A, AlSohaili, Shamma A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8129880/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33938810
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/26294
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author AlHadi, Ahmad N
Alammari, Khawla A
Alsiwat, Lojain J
Alhaidri, Nojood E
Alabdulkarim, Nouf H
Altwaijri, Nouf A
AlSohaili, Shamma A
author_facet AlHadi, Ahmad N
Alammari, Khawla A
Alsiwat, Lojain J
Alhaidri, Nojood E
Alabdulkarim, Nouf H
Altwaijri, Nouf A
AlSohaili, Shamma A
author_sort AlHadi, Ahmad N
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Mental health disorders are common in Saudi Arabia with a 34% lifetime prevalence. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of psychotherapy, is an evidence-based intervention for the majority of mental disorders. Although the demand for CBT is increasing, unfortunately, there are few therapists available to meet this demand and the therapy is expensive. Computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (cCBT) is a new modality that can help fill this gap. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to measure the knowledge of cCBT among mental health care professionals in Saudi Arabia, and to evaluate their attitudes and preferences toward cCBT. METHODS: This quantitative observational cross-sectional study used a convenience sample, selecting mental health care professionals working in the tertiary hospitals of Saudi Arabia. The participants received a self-administered electronic questionnaire through data collectors measuring their demographics, knowledge, and attitudes about cCBT, and their beliefs about the efficacy of using computers in therapy. RESULTS: Among the 121 participating mental health care professionals, the mean age was 36.55 years and 60.3% were women. Most of the participants expressed uncertainty and demonstrated a lack of knowledge regarding cCBT. However, the majority of participants indicated a positive attitude toward using computers in therapy. Participants agreed with the principles of cCBT, believed in its efficacy, and were generally confident in using computers. Among the notable results, participants having a clinical license and with cCBT experience had more knowledge of cCBT. The overall attitude toward cCBT was not affected by demographic or work-related factors. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health care professionals in Saudi Arabia need more education and training regarding cCBT; however, their attitude toward its use and their comfort in using computers in general show great promise. Further research is needed to assess the acceptance of cCBT by patients in Saudi Arabia, in addition to clinical trials measuring its effectiveness in the Saudi population.
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spelling pubmed-81298802021-05-24 Perception of Mental Health Care Professionals in Saudi Arabia on Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Observational Cross-sectional Study AlHadi, Ahmad N Alammari, Khawla A Alsiwat, Lojain J Alhaidri, Nojood E Alabdulkarim, Nouf H Altwaijri, Nouf A AlSohaili, Shamma A JMIR Form Res Original Paper BACKGROUND: Mental health disorders are common in Saudi Arabia with a 34% lifetime prevalence. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of psychotherapy, is an evidence-based intervention for the majority of mental disorders. Although the demand for CBT is increasing, unfortunately, there are few therapists available to meet this demand and the therapy is expensive. Computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (cCBT) is a new modality that can help fill this gap. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to measure the knowledge of cCBT among mental health care professionals in Saudi Arabia, and to evaluate their attitudes and preferences toward cCBT. METHODS: This quantitative observational cross-sectional study used a convenience sample, selecting mental health care professionals working in the tertiary hospitals of Saudi Arabia. The participants received a self-administered electronic questionnaire through data collectors measuring their demographics, knowledge, and attitudes about cCBT, and their beliefs about the efficacy of using computers in therapy. RESULTS: Among the 121 participating mental health care professionals, the mean age was 36.55 years and 60.3% were women. Most of the participants expressed uncertainty and demonstrated a lack of knowledge regarding cCBT. However, the majority of participants indicated a positive attitude toward using computers in therapy. Participants agreed with the principles of cCBT, believed in its efficacy, and were generally confident in using computers. Among the notable results, participants having a clinical license and with cCBT experience had more knowledge of cCBT. The overall attitude toward cCBT was not affected by demographic or work-related factors. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health care professionals in Saudi Arabia need more education and training regarding cCBT; however, their attitude toward its use and their comfort in using computers in general show great promise. Further research is needed to assess the acceptance of cCBT by patients in Saudi Arabia, in addition to clinical trials measuring its effectiveness in the Saudi population. JMIR Publications 2021-05-03 /pmc/articles/PMC8129880/ /pubmed/33938810 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/26294 Text en ©Ahmad N AlHadi, Khawla A Alammari, Lojain J Alsiwat, Nojood E Alhaidri, Nouf H Alabdulkarim, Nouf A Altwaijri, Shamma A AlSohaili. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 03.05.2021. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Formative Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://formative.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
AlHadi, Ahmad N
Alammari, Khawla A
Alsiwat, Lojain J
Alhaidri, Nojood E
Alabdulkarim, Nouf H
Altwaijri, Nouf A
AlSohaili, Shamma A
Perception of Mental Health Care Professionals in Saudi Arabia on Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Observational Cross-sectional Study
title Perception of Mental Health Care Professionals in Saudi Arabia on Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Observational Cross-sectional Study
title_full Perception of Mental Health Care Professionals in Saudi Arabia on Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Observational Cross-sectional Study
title_fullStr Perception of Mental Health Care Professionals in Saudi Arabia on Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Observational Cross-sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Perception of Mental Health Care Professionals in Saudi Arabia on Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Observational Cross-sectional Study
title_short Perception of Mental Health Care Professionals in Saudi Arabia on Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Observational Cross-sectional Study
title_sort perception of mental health care professionals in saudi arabia on computerized cognitive behavioral therapy: observational cross-sectional study
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8129880/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33938810
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/26294
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