LONDON - Given the growing demand for telehealth services triggered by the pandemic, healthcare organizations need evidence-based telehealth methodologies, especially with the importance of behavioral healthcare and the desire of national policymakers to improve outcomes without increasing costs.
The following is a summary of findings from research gathering the evidence of telebehavioral health’s effectiveness on key clinical outcomes.
Examples of behavioral health services delivered via telehealth include cognitive behavioral therapy, general psychotherapy, behavioral activation, medication management, and training of elderly patients. Earlier studies investigated the influence of verbal self-instructions on the transfer of task-switching training in older adults,1 aerobic exercise and resting blood pressure,2 and the effects of combined physical and cognitive training on fitness and neuropsychological outcomes in healthy older adults.3 Some experimental telehealth services were proven to be effective.4
Increased healthcare costs during the pandemic have triggered the demand of both governments and their populations for cost-effective telehealth services. States often cover telebehavioral health as a treatment modality, meaning that they cover certain services regardless of how they are delivered.
Telebehavioral gamification
A group of researchers has created a novel ‘exergame’ intervention for older adults, called the Body-Brain Trainer (BBT), that requires participants to perform physical movements in response to cognitive challenges that engage different cognitive control domains. This combined cognitive and physical methodology is compelling in that it helps maintain both cognitive and physical health, a combination which is a particularly effective approach. Using such tr
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