Prior to beginning work on this discussion, please watch the Virtual Clinic video and review the Guidelines for the Practice of Telepsychology (2013).
Be sure to also read Baker and Bufka (2011), "Preparing for the Telehealth World: Navigating Legal, Regulatory, Reimbursement, and Ethical Issues in an Electronic Age," Harris and Younggren (2011), "Risk Management in the Digital World," Luxton et al. (2014), "Best Practices for Remote Psychological Assessment Via Telehealth Technologies," and Gros et al. (2013), "Delivery of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy via Video Telehealth" articles.
In your initial post, provide an evaluation of the efficacy of using telehealth with mild, moderate, and severe mental health disorders. As part of your evaluation, assess the integration of evidence-based practices into the telehealth trend in psychotherapy.
Consider the population, specialty, and treatment preferences you identified in the Week One Creating a Specialist Website interactive assignment, and assess the appropriateness of using telephone, text-based, virtual clinics, and/or video telehealth given your client focus, specialty, and treatment preference(s).
Analyze ethical and professional issues you might encounter and explain the risks and benefits of using these delivery methods with your identified treatment population.
Baker, D. C., & Bufka, L. F. (2011). Preparing for the telehealth world: Navigating legal, regulatory, reimbursement, and ethical issues in an electronic age. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42(6), 405-411.
Harris, E., & Younggren, J. N. (2011). Risk management in the digital world. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42(6), 412-418. doi:10.1037/a0025139