Balogun, et. al., 2025
- The presence of telehealth described (Balogun, et. al., 2025) article is what I expected. Similarly to last week’s discussions, it addressed the effects covid on the health and mental health professions. This explains the increase of telehealth and telemental health as well as the benefits of the both. This article highlighted telehealth capacity to address barriers including geographic obstacles, mobility and physical disabilities that may restrict travel capabilities, and financial disadvantages. One specific use of telehealth that surprised me was the stating of the benefits for non-English speakers. This was surprising because the benefits of telehealth to different lingual groups are often not highlighted within discussions.
- I agree with the discussion about the benefits of telehealth for vulnerable populations. The article explains that many vulnerable populations face a lot of barriers when trying to receive social services. I agree with this as services are more accessible and those with cultural, financial, or geographical restrictions can receive quality services they need.
- While the article discussed all of the major instances of the use of telehealth, I believe they should have included the benefits for paraprofessionals. I feel that collaborating across multiple social service and mental health agencies have become easier with the increased use of telehealth.
- In my opinion, the most significant challenge regarding the use of telehealth is the ethical and legal considerations. I believe it is more difficult to protect the privacy of others when speaking virtually. I also feel that mistakes with protecting privacy can majorly affect client rapport and trust.
Zhu, et. al. (2024)
- I was not surprised by the response of increased telemedicine and telehealth services. With a lot of services and programs switching to virtual availability after the pandemic, it was clear that telehealth services were very beneficial to mental health and social service professions. Many groups relied on services being virtual. I feel that providers could gain insight on how useful these services could be and it would be an injustice to stop the work that showed great results and provided more accessibility.
- The use of telemental health was not at the rate that I expected. Personally, I thought the use of telemental health would have been higher than the 57% (In Zhu, et. al, 2024) that used telehealth on more than half their caseload mentioned.
- One factor I found interesting was the increased likelihood to use telemedicine for populations in rural areas. I found this interesting because the article mentions the ability for those in rural communities receiving the assistance that they need, however this also allows for providers that do not have a big demand in their own community to have a larger outreach and better job security. Another factor I found interesting was the client preference to receive telemedicine services. The article mentions this as the most highly ranked factor for predicting telehealth use. I wonder if this increased preference will result in limiting a lot of in person services due to lack of demand.
- I feel telemedicine is extremely beneficial for not only clients but also for providers. Telemedicine allows more access to care to people within rural areas, financial limitations, and mobile limitations. It allows professionals to connect better, have a greater impact on distanced groups of people, and manage caseloads more efficiently.
References
Balogun, A. K., Dada, S. N., Kazeem, O., & Bakare-Adesokan, K. A. (2025). Integrating telehealth services in social work practice for vulnerable groups. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 25(1), 1984-1991. https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2025.25.1.0248
Zhu, D., Paige, S. R., Slone, H., Gutierrez, A., Lutzky, C., Hedriana, H., Barrera, J. F., Ong, T., & Bunnell, B. E. (2024). Exploring telemental health practice before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of telemedicine and telecare, 30(1), 72–78. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633X211025943
You made several strong points about the ways telehealth expands access, and I especially appreciate how you highlighted benefits for vulnerable populations. I agree that the Balogun et al. (2025) article does a good job outlining the major barriers, geographic distance, mobility limitations, and financial constraints and how telehealth helps bridge those gaps. Like you, I also found it shocking that the article acknowledges the advantages for non-English speakers. That aspect is often overlooked, even though language access is one of the biggest barriers many clients face.
I also agree with your concerns about ethical and legal challenges. Protecting privacy in virtual settings is complicated, especially when clients live in crowded homes, rely on shared devices, or don’t fully understand digital security. As you mentioned, even one mistake can damage rapport and trust. This is why informed consent, clear communication and risks, and ongoing digital literacy support are so important in telehealth practice.
Your reflections on the Zhu et al. (2024) findings were also insightful. I had a similar reaction to the 57% statistic you would expect telehealth use to be even higher given how much shifted online during the pandemic. The rural provider trend stood out to me as well. It makes sense that telehealth expands their reach and improves job stability, but it also raises questions about how in-person services might change if client preference continues shifting toward virtual care. Th challenges moving forward will be balancing these advantages with the need to maintain ethical standards, protect privacy, and ensure that in-person services remain available for those who need them.
Tia,
I was wondering what were the benefits to non-english speakers and why they surprised you. All you tell us is that there were benefits. I am wondering how telehealth deals with non-english speaking clients in any different way from in person? Did the article discuss that?
You talk a great deal in generalities about the articles. When you start your next blog post – and I have said this to bunches of you so it’s not personal – get into the weeds a bit. I think I say in the instructions – don’t tell me the content, talk about what you think and why. I really want you to think about your opinions and where they come from. You make your points in a really general re-statement of the article, but not as much about the why or why not part.
Dr P