Implementation of Internet Interventions for Depression: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Depression is one of the most frequently diagnosed mental health disorders among adults, and appropriate treatment are not widely accessed. The Internet holds promise as a cost-effective and convenient delivery platform of interventions for depression. However, a common finding in health services is the failure to transfer interventions found effective in research, to routine settings. This finding has called for an emphasis of implementation among scholars. This scoping review aims to investigate the existing literature of implementation of internet interventions for depression, as coded onto the active implementation components. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were used to investigate the amount of knowledge of implementation in the field of internet interventions for depression, and what that knowledge entailed. The results suggested that there exists limited knowledge of implementation of internet interventions and that there is a tendency not to report on implementation-relevant factors in the literature of internet interventions. Overall, the competency drivers have received the most attention, while little to no attention have been placed on the organization and leadership drivers. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis revealed that staff selection was not concerned with the selection of practitioners, rather reflect reporting standards in empirical reports. The results of this scoping review provide implications for future efforts in the successful dissemination internet interventions for depression. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.