While psychotherapeutic e-mental health interventions may circumvent barriers that many men face in accessing mental health care, the effects of men using these interventions have not been evaluated. We aimed to synthesise the characteristics of psychotherapeutic e-mental health interventions for depression or anxiety that have been trialled and evaluated in men, and synthesise and meta-analyse the effects of these interventions on men’s depression and anxiety, including examining influences of participant, intervention, and study characteristics on outcomes. Seven papers (N = 552 participant men) identified from systematic literature searches met inclusion criteria. A total 177 studies were excluded because although they met all other inclusion criteria, they did not present analysable data on participant men. The seven included interventions varied in content, length, and format; only one intervention was gender sensitive, having been designed specifically for men. All three randomised controlled trials detected no post-trial difference in men’s depression symptoms between intervention and control participants. All four treatment studies presenting pre-post data reported post-intervention improvements in depression or social anxiety symptoms; this was supported by our meta-analysis of two studies, which found a medium-sized, positive effect of depression treatment interventions on depression symptoms in pre-post data (g = 0.64, p < 0.005). Further meta-analyses could not be conducted due to data limitations. Psychotherapeutic e-mental health treatment interventions result in pre- to post-intervention improvements in men’s depression symptoms. There is urgent need for consideration of gender and sex in the development, evaluation, and dissemination of e-mental health interventions for men, and for further information on their effects.
Introduction: The rise in telehealth adoption due to the emergence of COVID-19 may have had implications for men who experience barriers to accessing traditional forms of healthcare. This study sought to explorehow a sample of older men interacted with telehealth during the pandemic.
Method: Data sourced from a cross-sectional, population-based questionnaire (completed from October 2020 to March 2021) were used to analyze the characteristics of older men’s (a) use of telehealth services, and (b) perceptions of telehealth in comparison to in-person healthcare using Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Use.
Results: Of the 731 participants (mean age = 69 years; SD = 9.6), 241 (32.9%) had used telehealth services during pandemic restrictions. Most of them who had used telehealth (63.1%; 152/241) thought it was “just as good” as in-person, 4.1% (10/241) believed it was “better,” and 25.7% (62/241) thought it was “worse.” Men with more chronic conditions were more likely to (a) have used telehealth (odds ratio [OR], 1.44 [95% CI, 1.21–1.71]) and (b) perceived telehealth as “better” or “just as good” as in-person healthcare (OR, 1.63 [95% CI, 1.17–2.29]). Men with clinically significant depressive symptoms were more likely to view telehealth as worse than in-person care (OR, 0.32 [95% CI, 0.12–0.88]).
Conclusion: While telehealth is acceptable to the majority of middle-aged and older men who have used it during the pandemic, attitudes may vary according to their current health issues. Men with more chronic conditions are more likely to feel positive about telehealth, while those with clinically significant depression symptoms are more likely to view it negatively. Healthcare providers should consider men’s needs and preferences when offering telehealth services.
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