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Evaluation ViewAttendees 13

Panel Discussions

Treatment - CBT

Ethical considerations when providing “therapy” without a therapist in community interventions

Panel Discussion 38 - Ethical Considerations When Providing “therapy” Without a Therapist in Community Interventions

Saturday, November 16, 2024
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EST
Location: 309/310, Level 3, Downtown Marriott
Earn 1.5 Credit
Keywords: Ethics, Technology / Mobile Health, CBT
Recommended Readings:

Gruber, J., Prinstein, M. J., Clark, L. A., Rottenberg, J., Abramowitz, J. S., Albano, A. M., ... & Weinstock, L. M. (2021). Mental health and clinical psychological science in the time of COVID-19: Challenges, opportunities, and a call to action. American Psychologist, 76(3), 409–426.

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Mohr, D. C., Burns, M. N., Schueller, S. M., Clarke, G., & Klinkman, M. (2013). Behavioral intervention technologies: evidence review and recommendations for future research in mental health. General Hospital Psychiatry, 35(4), 332-338.

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Singla, D. R., Weobong, B., Nadkarni, A., Chowdhary, N., Shinde, S., Anand, A., ... & Patel, V. (2014). Improving the scalability of psychological treatments in developing countries: an evaluation of peer-led therapy quality assessment in Goa, India. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 60, 53-59.

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There is a critical need for effective, affordable, and accessible community mental health interventions. One barrier to meeting this need is the cost and limited supply associated with trained mental health professionals. Cognitive behavioral interventions designed to be self-guided or provided with limited support (such as in the form of a peer, nonprofessional lay therapist, or more recently conversational artificial intelligence), has the potential to fill this need as well as meet the needs of diverse communities. However, many ethical challenges arise when providing mental health care without traditionally trained mental health care professionals. Last year at ABCT, we hosted a panel that focused primarily on presenting the pioneering research efforts into creating and evaluating self-guided and peer-supported cognitive behavioral interventions, and we only began to skim the surface of the ethical issues regarding the use of non-traditionally trained therapists across these interventions. During this year’s panel, the entirety of the time allotted will be used to tap into the expertise of the ABCT community to facilitate a discussion on ethical standards to address ethical considerations. Some questions we will discuss include: What are the ethical implications of using self-guided, peer-supported, or artificial intelligence in simulating human conversations in mental health care? How can we ensure the quality and effectiveness of self-guided or peer-supported interventions? How can we build safety mechanisms for individuals in crisis when a therapist is not present? What types of mental health problems (if any) are not appropriate to handle if a therapist is absent from treatment? What is the responsibility of self-guided or peer-based interventions to refer people to higher levels of care? How can we ensure that these interventions are accessible and inclusive for individuals with diverse backgrounds and identities?

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Introduce the different types of support that been utilized in the provision of cognitive behavioral interventions.
  2. Discuss the potential and pitfalls of self-guided, peer-supported, or AI-supported interventions in meeting the needs of diverse communities.
  3. Identify the major ethical concerns related to providing interventions without a traditionally trained mental health care professional.
  4. Consider potential solutions to ethical concerns related to mental healthcare delivered through technology and/or peers.
  5. Discuss how APA ethical guidelines may be used to develop best practices for mental healthcare delivered through technology and/or peers.