Panel Discussion 36 - Using Just-in-time Adaptive Interventions to Better Meet Patients’ Needs and Increase Access to Care

Our health care system is failing to meet the vast mental health care needs across the country, creating a serious treatment gap. The gap cannot be filled by an increase in providers alone, as even doubling the number of providers still would not fill the void. There is a clear need for innovative delivery models to expand access to care, which has led to increased attention focused on the potential of digital mental health interventions to help address the gap. These interventions tend to be low cost, scalable, and they can increase access to care by putting treatment in people’s hands. Yet, despite their potential, there have been significant challenges with disseminating and implementing digital interventions in routine care, in part because sustained engagement with the programs has often been low as the programs have typically used a one-size-fits-all approach. Just-In-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs) hold tremendous potential for addressing these treatment gaps as they leverage mobile and sensing technologies to address the rapidly changing needs of individuals in real time, real-world settings, and can be personalized to better match people’s needs and preferences. This panel brings together leading experts in JITAI development, mobile sensing, and mixed methods research that focuses on co-design and ethical implementation with patients and users. The panel will showcase the panelists’ innovative, JITAI-related research across diverse populations, including anxious emerging adults, youth experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors, LGBTQ+ college students experiencing minority stress, Spanish-speaking anxious adults, and adults experiencing a range of behavioral health challenges. The panel will discuss their progress, challenges faced, and the steps needed to advance JITAI research with a deployment focus so it can better integrate with clinical practice, along with novel implementation pathways. Together, the panel will discuss innovations in JITAI research that can allow digital interventions to better fulfill their promise of increasing access to care.