Telemental health in rural and remote contexts

Barriers to the equitable provision of evidence-based psychological treatments in rural and regional areas are significant in both developed and developing countries. Psychologists and mental health workers are turning to telehealth as a means of overcoming some of these barriers, including the use of email, telephone, web-based interventions, social media, virtual environments, podcasting and videoconferencing for therapeutic purposes. Increasingly accessible wireless and hardwired networks, combined with affordable internet-protocol (IP) – based videoconferencing provides the greatest potential for psychologists to engage with marginalised residents in remote and rural areas. Evidence suggests that videoconferencing, in particular, is both a clinically- and cost-effective means of increasing access to care with high ratings of therapeutic alliance and satisfaction by clients and therapists alike. This chapter outlines ways in which videoconferencing can be used clinically with rural and remote clients, and suggests strategies by which organisations and individual practitioners may address some of the challenges of setting up and sustaining videoconferencing-based psychology services in the future. In particular these issues will be illustrated through a rural Australian case study.