The Effec tive ness of Telepsychiatry : A Review

Ab stract: Ef fec tive ness must be de ter mined for each new tech nol ogy be cause it may have ad van tages and dis ad van tages over what is cur rently of fered. We re viewed the lit er a ture to syn the size in for ma tion on whether telepsychiatry is ef fec tive. Based on the lit er a ture, we sug gest that the ef fec tive ness of telepsychiatry be eval u ated on ac cess to care, qual ity of care (that is, out comes, re li abil ity, sat is fac tion and com par i son with in-person care), costs and em pow er ment. Fur ther, we dis cuss other fac tors that in flu ence ef fec tive ness (for ex am ple, tech nol ogy, ad min is tra tive co or di na tion and fi nan cial sup port). Telepsychiatry ap pears ef fec tive, and rec om men da tions are of fered for fur ther eval u a tion of its ef fec tive ness.