Acceptability of digital therapy in depression: psychiatrists and general practitioners’ point of view ; Acceptabilité de la thérapie numérique dans la dépression : point de vue des psychiatres et des généralistes

Introduction: digital therapy in depression could prove useful in filling gaps in the mental health care system in France and reducing care deficits. To help develop this innovative tool and promote its integration, new studies are necessary for its understanding and acceptability.Objective: the work of this thesis aims to determine whether general practitioners and psychiatrists, the two specialists most concerned with the management of depressive disorders, have an interest in digital therapy, and whether they would be ready to prescribe it in addition to monitoring.Material and method: a Google forms online questionnaire was used, comprising 10 short questions. Among these 10 questions, 2 questions aimed to collect personal opinions from respondents through textual responses. The questionnaire was distributed throughout France. The quantitative data were analyzed with Excel, R Studio and R software, and the qualitative data with Iramuteq.Results: 1230 questionnaires were retained for analysis. For all statuses and all specialties combined, 70% of responding doctors had never heard of digital therapy, 82% were interested in this type of therapy, and 86% were ready to prescribe it for their patients suffering from depressive disorders. They expressed interest in this innovative tool, but also raised questions regarding training, accessibility, ethics, reimbursement, and expressed scepticism about their effectiveness and impact on the therapeutic relationship.Conclusion: digital therapy offers a new form of innovation in the treatment of depression, which involves a new organization of the healthcare system, and not necessarily through a new therapy. Medical-economic studies would help identify ways in which policy makers and providers can promote the acceptability of digital therapies within the healthcare system. ; Introduction : la thérapie numérique dans la dépression pourrait s’avérer utile pour combler les lacunes du système de soins en santé mentale et réduire les déficits de prise en charge. Pour aider ...