Mental health professionals and telehealth in a rural setting: a cross sectional survey

Telehealth usage has been promoted in all settings but has been identified as a panacea to issues of access and equity in the rural context. However, uptake and widespread integration of telehealth across all parts of the health system has been slow, with a myriad of barriers documented, including in rural settings. The crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, saw barriers rapidly overturned with the unprecedented and exponential rise in telehealth usage. The uniqueness of the crisis forced telehealth adoption, but as the urgency stabilises, pandemic learnings must be captured, utilised, and built upon in a post-pandemic world. The aim of this study was to document staff experiences and perceptions of delivering rural psychological therapies via telehealth during the pandemic and to capture learnings for future rural telehealth delivery. An online cross-sectional survey that explored mental health professional's experiences, use, and perceptions of telehealth before and after pandemic-enforced changes to service delivery. Sixty-two respondents completed the questionnaire (response rate 68%). Both the delivery of telehealth via telephone and online video conferencing significantly increased during the pandemic (66% vs 98%, p