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    Client-Involved E-Collaboration for Better Access (CIEBA) to Allied Mental Health
    Hadges, Monica Deborah ( 2023-10)
    Almost 12 percent of Australians received a Medicare-subsidised, focused psychological strategy (FPS) service in private practices during 2016–17. This jumped to 18% during 2019–20, coinciding with COVID-19 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2021). Australia’s private allied mental health workforces comprise psychologists, accredited mental health social workers (AMHSW) and occupational therapists. Care coordination is complicated by interprofessional silos between allied health disciplines and medical providers involved in mental health. This AMHSW study investigates a prototype system of practice, Mi Team Mental Health (Trade Mark), to obtain stakeholder perceptions about the suitability, perceived barriers and tailored information and communication technology (ICT) functionality for client-involved e-collaboration between providers for Better Access (BA) mental health services. Although it has wider implications and aligns with current policy and practice reforms, digital care coordination has not yet prioritised client involvement as fundamental. This exploratory mixed-method research recruited a purposive sample of adult mental health consumers (N = 13) and private allied mental health therapist participants (N = 13) in Queensland and Victoria. Data obtained from semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed, merged with data from a survey of all participants and compared to existing telemental health literature specific to client-involved non-recorded videoconferencing tools in clinical practice. Even though data were collected in 2018/19, before COVID-19 dramatically increased the use of telemental health service delivery in Australia, most consumer and professional participants could see the potential of this client-centred ICT-enabled practice, noting increased transparency, choices, enhanced recovery-focused language and real-time efficacies. In Australia’s BA context of care, involving clients and bringing in providers in real-time is seen as particularly pertinent when done for reviews of mental health care plans. The most unexpected finding was that of the recovery language coevolution practice change. If consumers were involved in pre-negotiated clinical reviews via structured e-collaboration meetings, then interprofessional sensitivity to the choice of language would inherently change and become simpler. They were potentially helping all relevant providers collaborating on the screen to become inherently person-centred and better informed of other recommendations, discipline opinions or progress. This person-centred approach to collaborative multidisciplinary practice shifts the ‘expert’ stance to involve clients as essential team members. It can unite fragmented and siloed disciplines. This research advances collaborative models of digital service delivery for more sustainable shared care in Australia’s private mental health landscape. The conceptual contribution, client-involved e-collaboration for Better Access (CIEBA), offers a process for how tailored ICT systems can facilitate and structure human factor pre-screen, on-screen and post-screen practice behaviours and can be further developed to better include client voice in real time. Hybrid consulting is the new normal, with greater community acceptance, familiarity and ease of access. Within tailored e-collaboration technologies, human behaviours remain the greatest enablers (or limiters) of client involvement. This study contributes to the ecosystem culture shift needed for new FPS practices that emphasise lived experiences and encourage client involvement in care planning. Further research that includes medical disciplines operating in Australia’s BA context would help inform future CIEBA care coordination knowledge and practice.