“It doesn’t have to be a really big intervention. Often it’s these smaller changes that make a significant difference.”

Lack of time, distrust, worry about efficacy and cost – changing routine practices in healthcare is hard. The most commonly cited research suggests it can take close to two decades for a proven, evidence-based intervention to make its way into routine practice; its what’s known as the research practice gap. In recent years though, the field of Implementation Science has emerged specifically dedicated to closing that gap.

In this episode of Digital Health Musings, Dr Marlena Klaic, senior research fellow in implementation science at the University of Melbourne, decodes some of the common attitudes and behaviours health professionals express about digital mental health, from an implementation science lens. What does it really mean when we say we don’t have time to incorporate digital mental health into our practice? And, what do health professionals really need when they admit that knowing how to access the right resources for the right person is a big challenge?

Understanding what the unique barriers and motivators we experience as health professionals really reveals about what motivates us or what gets in the way when it comes to adapting to innovation in clinical care is vital if we want to make sure that the most up to date, evidence-based practices are available to everyone, says Dr Klaic.

In many cases, she says, the solutions can be very simple. This conversation will give you lots of great insights into some of the barriers that you might experience yourself when it comes to using digital mental health – and the steps to overcome them. Listen to the full interview here.

Who is Dr Marlena Klaic?

Marlena Klaic, PhD, is a senior research fellow in implementation science at the University of Melbourne and health services researcher at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, St Vincent’s Hospital, Barwon Health and Ruijin Hospital in China. She is an accredited occupational therapist with 20 years of experience working clinically in neurological rehabilitation, health services research, and project management. Marlena was one of the first clinicians appointed to lead research translation in a Victorian public health setting with the role focusing on methods to support the translation of evidence into sustainable practice change. Marlena is CI on funded projects to the value of $4 million, contributing expertise on methods related to implementation research and outcomes in fields such as brain injury rehabilitation, exercise after a cancer diagnosis and diabetes management with indigenous Australians. She chairs the Melbourne Implementation Research Group which includes 17 researchers from a broad range of disciplines with varying levels of expertise who are leading more than 60 implementation research projects across multiple diagnostic groups and a range of health settings.

Check out some of the resources and papers we discussed in this episode:

Australian Psychologists Experiences with Digital Mental Health: a Qualitative Investigation, Mancini et al. 2022: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9381152/

Perceived Drivers and Barriers to the Adoption of eMental Health by Psychologists: The Construction of the Levels of Adoption of eMental Health Model. Feijt et al. 2018:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5941096/

Implementability of healthcare interventions: an overview of reviews and development of a conceptual framework. Klaic et al. 2022:

https://implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13012-021-01171-7

Black Dog Institute Health Professionals Education and Resource Hub: https://bit.ly/4502m81

Listen to the full conversation below. You can also access Digital Mental Health Musings on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Deezer.

Read the Episode Transcript