Best Practices for Rural eMental Health

A review of recent literature related to eHealth technologies in Canada and Australia was conducted to better understand specific barriers and enablers for the uptake, acceptability, and success of eMental health programs.

It has been shown that the more “rural” or “remote” a community, the access to mental health services decreases. By mitigating barriers and promoting enablers, successful eMental health integration can increase access to mental health services for rural residents.

eMental health aims to bridge the gap between rural and urban mental health services by introducing electronic methods such as teleconferencing or videoconferencing for psychological services, virtual referral to psychiatrists, and sharing of electronic records. Successful integration of the technology remains a challenging task, with key actors, enablers, and barriers all influencing its success.