Rates of access to mental health care and disparities in access vary greatly among youth in the United States depending on the area; approximately 20% of youth with elevated symptoms receive mental health care. Since 2010, over 98 hospitals in rural areas have closed, demonstrating that health disparities appear to be at an all-time high. Given the lack of access to a range of mental healthcare, rural communities continue to be met with significantly more barriers to treatment. The underlying components to such mental health disparities include lack of trained professionals, underutilization of available services, and lack of convenient access.These challenges contribute to a more vulnerable population than urban communities. In recent years, there has been a movement to address this gap of care for rural areas using internet delivery of mental health services. Telehealth can improve equitable nature of healthcare.12,13 Telehealth is promising for rural youths by alleviating traditional barriers to access and promote symptom reduction despite significant shortages of trained mental health providers.Although child telehealth research is limited, promising results are beginning to emerge. EBTs for youths, such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) have growing support when delivered via telehealth when compared to in-person services.4,14,19 Unfortunately, PSB-CBT has yet to be examined in the telehealth approach, despite need for early intervention when youth have PSB. Problematic-sexual behaviors (PSBs) in youth pose a substantial public health concern, with up to one third of sexual abuse cases committed by those under 18.16 PSBs include behaviors that involve the use of sexual body parts in a manner that is considered harmful and is developmentally inappropriate for the youths age. Luckily, PSB-CBT is effective in quickly decreasing symptoms and low (2%) long-term recidivism rates. A gap in the literature persists relating to whether access to PSB-CBT via telehealth would facilitate more equitable care and increase participation in mental health services among youth in rural areas. Given this, our study aims to explore the effectiveness of PSB-CBT through telehealth and examine acceptability and access to services in rural communities.

2023-08-31

2025-08-30