Establishing and Governing e-Mental Health Care in Australia: A Systematic Review of Challenges and A Call For Policy-Focussed Research

Background: growing evidence attests to the efficacy of e-mental health services. there is less evidence on how to facilitate the safe,effective,and sustainable implementation of these services.objective: we conducted a systematic review on e-mental health service use for depressive and anxiety disorders to inform policy development and identify policy-relevant gaps in the evidence base.methods: following the prisma protocol,we identified research (1) conducted in australia,(2) on e-mental health services,(3) for depressive or anxiety disorders,and (4) on e-mental health usage,such as barriers and facilitators to use. databases searched included cochrane,pubmed,psycinfo,cinahl,embase,proquest social science,and google scholar. sources were assessed according to area and level of policy relevance.results: the search yielded 1081 studies; 30 studies were included for analysis. most reported on self-selected samples and samples of online help-seekers. studies indicate that e-mental health services are predominantly used by females,and those who are more educated and socioeconomically advantaged. ethnicity was infrequently reported on. studies examining consumer preferences found a preference for face-to-face therapy over e-therapies,but not an aversion to e-therapy. content relevant to governance was predominantly related to the organizational dimensions of e-mental health services,followed by implications for community education. financing and payment for e-services and governance of the information communication technology were least commonly discussed.conclusions: little research focuses explicitly on policy development and implementation planning; most research provides an e-services perspective. research is needed to provide community and policy-maker perspectives. general population studies of prospective treatment seekers that include ethnicity and socioeconomic status and quantify relative preferences for all treatment modalities are necessary.