» Barriers for the engagement of professionals

In recent years, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in hospitals and by health care professionals has grown significantly. In this sense, MasterMind project aims to make a high quality cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression addressed to adults that suffer from the illness by the use of ICT.

One of the key factors that drive successful in the project management and the use of the ICT is the identification of barriers and facilitator factors that can arise during professionals’ engagement.

Based on Basque country´s pilot experience, it has been identified five key factors in which the healthcare professionals appeared to influence engagement:

The active involvement of local healthcare leaders
A good level of understanding and positive previous experiences of professionals and/or patients with similar interventions
Ongoing and good quality support from the Healthcare System to professionals
Ongoing and good quality support from professionals to patients
Positive social beliefs towards new technologies in health

When it comes to the five more often barriers identified, should be highlighted:

Organizational constraints (lack of time, lack of resources for effective implementation, etc)
Lack of confidence of professionals and/or patients on new technologies as effective therapies in mental health
Low digital literacy of professionals and/or patients
Non optimal usability of the proposed technology (not user friendly programmes).
Too highly demanding research protocols (such as exhausting or difficult questionnaires for clinicians)

Overall, the engagement levels of healthcare professionals should be supervised across the project lifecycle. As well as Healthcare professionals’ expectations must be addressed in order to bring about the best in them during the project implementation.