ESRII 2025, European research on internet interventions
In October, Forhelse participated in this year's ESRII conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. The theme of the conference was: Resilience through Innovation.
Does therapist-supervised digital treatment work, and how is it experienced by the therapists?
The researchers from the Center for Digital Mental Health Services presented the topic "Therapist-guided digital treatment in routine mental health care". Studies show that therapists' acceptance and integration into the workflow is crucial for the successful implementation of guided digital mental health interventions. Also essential is the therapist's experience of how well the treatment suits the patients.
In the session "Introduction, implementation and clinical impact of therapist-guided digital treatment in routine mental health care", researchers shared experiences from their various projects:
- Aleksander Heltne shared preliminary results from an ongoing open-label study of a therapist-assisted internet-based intervention for adults with ADHD in routine clinical practice.
- Beate Standal took an in-depth look at the experiences of healthcare professionals and explored how therapists find guided digital interventions fit into their practice.
- Iris Brunner presented preliminary data on therapists' time use and how this relates to adherence to different treatment programs.
- Reidar Nævdal presented findings from a large survey of therapists offering digital mental health services, focusing on how they experience this new way of delivering treatment. What characterizes the therapists, and what is their acceptance?
Nævdal explained that acceptance is a technical term that deals with how the users understand the technology. Nævdal explained that in the study they found that the e-treatment therapists have a high level of acceptance, but that at the same time they experience losing their professional reputation by using e-treatment.
Nævdal's results are taken from an article he recently published in ScienceDirect.
Studies for young people with anxiety and ADHD
Researcher Smiti Kahlon and PhD student Maren Storetvedt participated in the conference's poster session.
Smiti Kahlon: Rule-based chatbot application for adolescents
with anxiety: a non-randomized pilot and feasibility study.
Maren Storetvedt: Optimizing a digital mental health
intervention for youth with ADHD: youth perspectives on digital
health promotion.
a digital help tool for young people with ADHD.
Maren Storetvedt's poster focused on young people's experiences and benefits of a digital help app for ADHD. The intervention ADA is a coping program for young people aged 13-16 who have been diagnosed with ADHD. ADA is delivered as an app on the phone and consists of psychoeducation, exercises, coping strategies and tips delivered through varied digital formats.
The presentation was based on qualitative interviews with young people who have tested ADA and shared their experiences and benefits, as well as useful input for improvements.
Nordic network at ESRII
Forhelse, headed by Tine Nordgreen, participates in the Nordic network for Internet-based digital health innovations. The group was present at ESRII with a network meeting and the presentation: "Resilience through service models in the nordic countries".
Read the online story: Nordic network for better mental health services
