Ethics of Digital Mental Health During COVID-19

Course overview

This course is based upon material published in JMIR Mental Health and is available as an open-access article. Social distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the adoption and implementation of digital mental health tools. Psychiatry and therapy sessions are being conducted via videoconferencing platforms, and the use of digital mental health tools for monitoring and treatment has grown. This rapid shift to telehealth during the pandemic has given added urgency to the ethical challenges presented by digital mental health tools. Regulatory standards have been relaxed to allow this shift to socially distanced mental health care. It is imperative to ensure that the implementation of digital mental health tools, especially in the context of this crisis, is guided by ethical principles and abides by professional codes of conduct. This paper examines key areas for an ethical path forward in this digital mental health revolution: privacy and data protection, safety and accountability, and access and fairness. This course on digital mental health ethics during COVID-19 is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work. This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate, and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop or increase their knowledge of ethics in a digital mental health context. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require clinical continuing education courses for license renewal. Authors: Martinez-Martin, Dasgupta, Carter, Chandler, Kellmeyer, Kreitman, Weiss, and Cabrera Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding ethical concerns during COVID-19 digital mental health encounters. Specifically, a professional will: Identify ethical principles related to privacy and data protection in the context of digital mental health care Summarize ethical concerns regarding safety and accountability in digital mental health care Explain how access and fairness can be assured when mental health care is provided digitally Citation: Martinez-Martin, N., et al. Ethics of Digital Mental Health During COVID-19: Crisis and Opportunities. JIMR Mental Health 7(12):e23776. 2020.