Healthcare Providers’ Awareness and Practice on Electronic Mental Health Interventions for Depression and its’ Utilization Barriers

Introduction: E-mental health interventions can be effective in the early diagnosis and treatment of mental problems such as depression. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the awareness and practice of health care providers on E-mental health interventions and its’ utilization barriers. Method: This descriptive study was conducted in Kerman in 2018. The research population consisted of family physicians, psychologists and health care providers in health care centers who were selected through systematic random sampling. Data collection tool was a valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire consisting of two parts of demographic questions and items related to awareness, usage, and barriers of using E-mental health interventions. Spearman, Kendall, and Chi square tests were used to analyze the data. Results: A total number of 143 people participated in this study of whom, 69% had not used E-mental health interventions so far and only 9% had been trained in these interventions. In regard to E-mental health interventions, psychological training (24%) and peers’ support by using online discussion forums (17%) gained the highest rates of use among participants and in regard to barriers of implementing and using these interventions, clinical risks (97%) and unwillingness of patient and physician in using electronic interventions (88%) gained the highest rates. Conclusion: In general, health care providers’ awareness and practice on E-mental health interventions were low. Therefore, identifying and prioritizing these barriers can help to enhance the capabilities of these technologies and to promote their use

Usability Evaluation of Web-based Training Tools under WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC)

Introduction: Various training methods such as web-based training tools have been developed to achieve the potential benefits of classification systems developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Given that users of these tools have different levels of capability, usability problems could reduce the speed and accuracy of learning among users interacting with these tools. This study aims to identify usability problems of web-based training tools under the WHO family of international classifications (WHO-FIC). Methods: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, ten trained evaluators independently examined WHO-FIC training tools using the heuristic evaluation method. The identified problems were classified into 10 Nielsen’s usability heuristics. Then, their average severity was calculated. Results: In total, 40 usability problems were identified after merging and eliminating the duplicates. The highest number of problems was related to ICD-10 training tool (n=20). The highest number of problems was related to heuristics of aesthetic and minimalist design (25.0%), and user control and freedom (17.5%). Heuristics of flexibility and efficiency of use and helping users recognize, diagnose and recover from errors had the highest average severity of problems. Conclusion: Violating heuristics of aesthetic and minimalist design, user control and freedom and recognition rather than recall were among the most common problems of WHO-FIC training tools. Evaluators reported that half of the user interface problems of WHO-FIC training tools were of major and catastrophe type. Solving the usability problems of these tools could lead to ease of work, increased speed of learning and acceptance of these systems among users

Evaluating the Quality of Content and Degree of Completeness of Discharge Summaries from the Physicians\' Perspective

Introduction: Discharge summaries (DSs) are among the most important tools for transferring information from hospital physicians to other physicians and play an important role in the continuity of care. Low quality and lack of information are the main problems of DSs, and evaluation of their quality from the physicians' perspective in Iran has rarely been done. This study aimed to evaluate the DSs' quality of content and completeness. Method: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on the DSs of Shafa Hospital in Kerman. A valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire (α=0.97) was used. This questionnaire had three sections, including questions related to demographic information, evaluation of the quality of DSs (8 questions), and the degree of completeness of the DSs (8 questions). Results: Out of 110 physicians, 98 (89%) filled out questionnaires. Completeness, awareness, continuity of care, legibility, relevancy, length, consistency, organization, and physicians’ satisfaction were below the average (50%) throughout the hospital. The highest level of physicians' satisfaction with the quality of the content (79.27%) and completeness (77.73%) was attributed to electronic discharge summaries of the neurology department. Organization, legibility, and consistency, respectively, were identified as the best predictors of physicians' satisfaction with the quality of the DSs’ content. Conclusion: Policymakers should increase the quality of DSs by creating instructions, holding documentation training courses, increasing the supervision of senior physicians on interns and residents, and finally developing electronic automated DSs

Additional file 1 of The preferred IT sources and tools of Iranian people for accessing health information

Additional file 1