Technologically assisted intensive home treatment: feasibility study

Abstract

IntroductionIn recent year, many attempts have been made to provide patients with alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization during acute distress. Although several hospitalization alternatives have been offered, most of them still require patients to be distanced from their families, friends, and the social environment.MethodsIn this report we describe the implementation of a novel approach to psychiatric care termed “Technologically assisted Intensive Home Treatment”, where patients arriving to emergency settings are directed to home care with technological aids that enable close monitoring and ongoing contact with their therapists.ResultsWe describe the rationale and treatment principles of the treatment, and provide an elaborative description of the implementation process during the first year of implementation.DiscussionAdditional attention is given to factors associated with early dropout from the program, in order to inform readers of predictors to optimal care. Limitations and directions for future research and practice are discussed.Clinical Trial Registration: The study was registered in the database of clinical trials (registration number SHEBA-19-6555-MW-CTIL) and in the Ministry of Health (registration number MOH_2022-08-22_011992).