Safety of Telemental Healthcare Delivered to Clinically Unsupervised Settings: A Systematic Review

This article provides an overview of safety issues associated with telemental healthcare. A systematic review of the literature was conducted on 76 articles to evaluate the safety of telemental healthcare delivered to unsupervised settings. The review resulted in a total of nine studies that specifically evaluated the delivery of telemental healthcare to unsupervised settings. Six of the nine studies reviewed explicitly described safety plans or specific precautions that could be used if necessary. Two of the nine studies reported events that required the researchers to use safety procedures to effectively respond to concerns they had regarding participant safety. The safety of telemental healthcare delivered to clinically unsupervised settings, such as a personal residence, must be established to inform policy and further the dissemination of telemental health programs. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of safety issues associated with telemental healthcare and, through a systematic literature review, evaluate the safety of telemental healthcare delivered to unsupervised settings. The review resulted in a total of nine studies that specifically evaluated the delivery of telemental healthcare to unsupervised settings. Six of the nine studies reviewed explicitly described safety plans or specific precautions that could be used if necessary. Two of the nine studies reported events that required the researchers to use safety procedures to effectively respond to concerns they had regarding participant safety. In both of these studies, the issues were resolved with prescribed safety procedures. Recommendations and future directions for the development and evaluation of safety protocols are discussed.