Joshua August Skorburg|Josephine Yam
Is There an App for That?: Ethical Issues in the Digital Mental Health Response to COVID-19
University of Guelph|University of Guelph
well covid19 growing excitement potential various digital technologies telehealth smartphone apps ai chatbots revolutionize mental healthcare sarscov2 virus spread across globe clinicians warned mental illness epidemic within coronavirus pandemic funding digital mental health technologies surging many researchers calling widespread adoption address mental health sequelae covid19 reckoning ethical implications technologies urgent decisions made today shape future mental health research care foreseeable future contend pressing ethical issues concern 1 extent technologies demonstrably improve mental health outcomes 2 likelihood widescale adoption exacerbate existing health inequalities laid bare pandemic argue evidence efficacy weak likelihood increasing inequalities high first review recent trends digital mental health next turn clinical literature show many technologies proposed response covid19 unlikely improve outcomes argue even evidencebased technologies run risk increasing health disparities conclude suggesting policymakers allocate limited resources development many digital mental health tools focus instead evidencebased solutions address mental health inequalities