Occupational health professionals’ and HR specialists’ perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings: A qualitative study
Objective The rise in mental health-related work disability pensions highlights the need for more research on how occupational health care (OHC) can support mental health, including the use of telehealth (TH) services in mental health care. Methods The research, employing a descriptive qualitative a...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Digital Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241297409 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1841556506984579072 |
|---|---|
| author | Elina Kervinen Lauri Vähätalo Anna Siukola Tiia Reho Klas Winell Riitta Sauni |
| author_facet | Elina Kervinen Lauri Vähätalo Anna Siukola Tiia Reho Klas Winell Riitta Sauni |
| author_sort | Elina Kervinen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective The rise in mental health-related work disability pensions highlights the need for more research on how occupational health care (OHC) can support mental health, including the use of telehealth (TH) services in mental health care. Methods The research, employing a descriptive qualitative approach through interviews ( n = 42), focused on experiences of professionals from a private OHC service provider in Finland and human resource representatives (HRRs) of OHC client companies. Inductive content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Our research suggests that TH services provided by OHC can enhance access to care and expedite the initiation of work ability support, particularly in mental health cases. However, potential challenges include a perceived sense of distance, superficiality in interactions, and difficulty in forming a comprehensive understanding due to few non-verbal cues. Conclusion A combined approach of TH and face-to-face services is suggested to provide flexible, and individualized support. Further studies on remote low-threshold discussion mental health services and studies comparing TH and face-to-face services are advised. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-802c05dc09c7477e900e87f58fd18a59 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2055-2076 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Digital Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-802c05dc09c7477e900e87f58fd18a592025-01-07T08:04:01ZengSAGE PublishingDigital Health2055-20762025-01-011110.1177/20552076241297409Occupational health professionals’ and HR specialists’ perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings: A qualitative studyElina Kervinen0Lauri Vähätalo1Anna Siukola2Tiia Reho3Klas Winell4Riitta Sauni5 Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, , Tampere, Finland Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, , Tampere, Finland Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, , Tampere, Finland Pihlajalinna, Tampere, Finland Conmedic Oy, Espoo, Finland Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, , Tampere, FinlandObjective The rise in mental health-related work disability pensions highlights the need for more research on how occupational health care (OHC) can support mental health, including the use of telehealth (TH) services in mental health care. Methods The research, employing a descriptive qualitative approach through interviews ( n = 42), focused on experiences of professionals from a private OHC service provider in Finland and human resource representatives (HRRs) of OHC client companies. Inductive content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Our research suggests that TH services provided by OHC can enhance access to care and expedite the initiation of work ability support, particularly in mental health cases. However, potential challenges include a perceived sense of distance, superficiality in interactions, and difficulty in forming a comprehensive understanding due to few non-verbal cues. Conclusion A combined approach of TH and face-to-face services is suggested to provide flexible, and individualized support. Further studies on remote low-threshold discussion mental health services and studies comparing TH and face-to-face services are advised.https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241297409 |
| spellingShingle | Elina Kervinen Lauri Vähätalo Anna Siukola Tiia Reho Klas Winell Riitta Sauni Occupational health professionals’ and HR specialists’ perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings: A qualitative study Digital Health |
| title | Occupational health professionals’ and HR specialists’ perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings: A qualitative study |
| title_full | Occupational health professionals’ and HR specialists’ perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings: A qualitative study |
| title_fullStr | Occupational health professionals’ and HR specialists’ perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings: A qualitative study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Occupational health professionals’ and HR specialists’ perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings: A qualitative study |
| title_short | Occupational health professionals’ and HR specialists’ perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings: A qualitative study |
| title_sort | occupational health professionals and hr specialists perceptions of telemental health services in occupational health care settings a qualitative study |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241297409 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elinakervinen occupationalhealthprofessionalsandhrspecialistsperceptionsoftelementalhealthservicesinoccupationalhealthcaresettingsaqualitativestudy AT laurivahatalo occupationalhealthprofessionalsandhrspecialistsperceptionsoftelementalhealthservicesinoccupationalhealthcaresettingsaqualitativestudy AT annasiukola occupationalhealthprofessionalsandhrspecialistsperceptionsoftelementalhealthservicesinoccupationalhealthcaresettingsaqualitativestudy AT tiiareho occupationalhealthprofessionalsandhrspecialistsperceptionsoftelementalhealthservicesinoccupationalhealthcaresettingsaqualitativestudy AT klaswinell occupationalhealthprofessionalsandhrspecialistsperceptionsoftelementalhealthservicesinoccupationalhealthcaresettingsaqualitativestudy AT riittasauni occupationalhealthprofessionalsandhrspecialistsperceptionsoftelementalhealthservicesinoccupationalhealthcaresettingsaqualitativestudy |