Awareness, knowledge, attitude, and skills of telemedicine among mental healthcare providers

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine plays a vital role in patient-centered healthcare delivery in the diagnosis, management, and development of future treatment plans for chronic diseases. RESULTS: This study revealed that attitude toward telemedicine was high among the studied mental healthcare providers, while it was average among the other studied variables (awareness, knowledge, and skills). Psychiatrists had a high percentage in the studied variables (awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills). There were statistically significant differences in the dimensions of the telemedicine questionnaire according to age, profession, and academic degree. There was a statistically significant relation between the levels of awareness, knowledge, and attitude toward telemedicine. CONCLUSIONS: This study concluded that the studied mental healthcare providers had high attitudes while the other studied variables (awareness, knowledge, and skills) were average. Psychiatrists had a high percentage in the studied variables (awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills), followed by psychologists, while nurses had the lowest level in all studied variables.