Information Technology for Behavioral Health: Global Perspectives on Access, Services, and Stigmatization

Our exchange of information through health technologies helps to increase access to care, analyze information, and disseminate practices. Clinical informatics is a rapidly expanding area and can facilitate patient-centered care as defined by quality, affordable, and timely health care. This chapter covers developments in information systems and electronic health records for communications with patients and staff (e.g., alerts, texts), setting behavioral health indicators and developing digital advances to improve practice and research. Patient-centered care with technology facilitates quality outcomes and efficiency via sound system processes. By learning how systems are designed and tailored to collect data, clinicians can use technology to inform decisions and facilitate outcomes. Setting priorities involves input from all care participants, as well as technological competencies for the clinician and institution. Cultural safety and humility focuses on patients’ experiences and values. This empowers patients’ roles in clinical care and helps to avoid inadvertent perpetuation or repetition of traumatic or stigmatizing experiences. Patient, clinician, and institutional attitudes and skills in technology, equity, and diversity can align clinical care, training, and research missions and stimulate process improvement.