Perspectives of Patients and Therapists on Social Media and Digital Data Use in Mental Health Therapy: Thematic Analysis (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Incorporating insights from social media into the patient provider encounter is increasingly being explored in healthcare settings. Less is known about the utility of this data in mental health therapy. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to prospectively investigate and characterize how social media and digital data is used in mental health therapy from both the patient and mental health therapist perspective. METHODS Patients enrolled in mental health therapy and mental health therapists were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. All interviews were transcribed and coded using a deductive framework analysis. Themes and sub-themes were identified. Participants completed a socio-demographic survey while mental health therapists also completed a behavioral norms and elicitation survey. RESULTS Seventeen participants: mental health therapists (48%, 8) and patients (52%, 9), were interviewed. Overall, participants identified four themes and nine sub-themes. Themes were current data collection practices, social media and digital data in therapy, advantages of social media and digital data in therapy, and disadvantages of social media and digital data in therapy. Most sub-themes were related to advantages of and disadvantages of incorporating digital data in mental health therapy. Advantage sub-themes included convenience objective, builds rapport, and user-friendly while disadvantage sub-themes were digital data/social media is non-reflective, ethically ambiguous, and non-generalizable. Injunctive and descriptive normative beliefs mapped onto two advantage sub-themes: convenience and objectivity. CONCLUSIONS This qualitative pilot study established advantages and disadvantages of social media and digital data use in mental health therapy. Patients and therapists highlighted similar concerns and uses. This study indicated that overall, both patients and therapists are interested in and comfortable to use and discuss social media and digital data in mental health therapy.