An insider’s look into Karify’s solution

Illustration user story

The ‘Marina de Wolfcentrum’ recently started working with Karify. The specialized treatment center for anxiety and compulsion disorders is part of GGZ Centraal, one of the top leading mental health institutions in the Netherlands. On the occasion of this change, we had the pleasure of interviewing Henny Visser, psychotherapist and treatment team leader of the Marina de Wolfcentrum, about the added value of using eHealth for patients and the organization as a whole.

Visser: “I think the most important aspect of eHealth is that the patient is actively involved himself. eHealth makes patients more autonomous and helps them to be proactive. It will make the patients being more prepared before they even start their treatment process. We implemented Karify’s eHealth programs so that patients can prepare themselves for their treatment together with their loved ones.”

Quote henny visser

Implementation Karify

“We worked on the implementation of eHealth together with the therapists: a sort of bottom-up approach. We carefully considered the advantages we can create by means of digital assignments. We have transformed forms, assignments and exercises to digital ones so that patients can use them in the comfort of their homes or any other external environment. This way we created a relevant treatment plan with integrated eHealth for each problem area/disorder.”

“The additional challenge was a lack of time and the creation of uniformity in the explanation which we used to do orally before. It has been quite a search to find the best corresponding version for our digital context.”

Integrated treatment at the Marina de Wolfcentrum

“eHealth really is an integrated part of our treatment plans. We developed an integrated eHealth program. Patients who receive part time treatment, start the intake program which is ordered with corresponding eHealth assignments for each of the four dayparts. The face to face sessions have been adapted to the content of these assignments. Patients are being stimulated to think about the goals they would like to reach. When previous treatment plans did not work out for patients, why is that? This background information has to answer the question: Why would we succeed this time?”

Online psychoeducation

“I think Karify is extremely suitable for providing psychoeducation. We thought about this thoroughly, so that the information in our psychoeducation programs connects with the overall vision of our center. We used the question ‘What does one need?’ to built up the psychoeducation programs around, since we aim at providing patients with the best treatment plan.”

“The advantage in contrast to offline psychoeducation is that you can place links to relevant places, creating a more advanced and accessible overview. This way the information is independent of the therapist and the working relationship of the therapist and patient. Above all, we are able to know if a patient did take it well. This information eventually can be used in the face to face session.”

Exposure with digital assignments

“By means of integrated treatment patients will expose themselves to fear-provoking situations, called ‘exposure exercises’. One patient could go to the shops, despite his fear and without safety precautions. He can prepare himself by use of a digital assignment. In the program, patients have to overthink what they are scared of, what they would like to learn and what helped them in previous situations. Then they will execute the exposure exercise in real life. Afterwards, a digital assignment will become available in which the exercise can be evaluated.”

Cognitive therapy

“In the treatment plans at the Marina de Wolfcentrum a big part is assigned to cognitive therapy. In the online treatment plan, also assignments are available which focus on cognitive therapy. Which thoughts make that a patient starts being scared? Patients will work online on challenging these thoughts and thinking about their reliability.”

Regulatory processes

“Finally, eHealth is ultimately useful for regulatory processes.”

Response patients online therapy

“Patients are mainly enthusiastic about the understandability and accessibility Karify provides to their treatment. Besides, patients are often happy they can come into action apart from the face to face sessions. The information obtained by the online assignments can be used in our treatment sessions.”

“Of course, patients sometimes hesitate to start working on a problem they have been avoiding for a while. Working online can also be difficult for some patients, which is why we always discuss if a patient would need help. It even happens that a nurse helps the patient with his online assignments. This form of direct help is especially needed in the case of patients with severe compulsion issues, who aim perfection at such a level that they could work all day on one single assignment. Besides, people with autism tend to stick at little errors, and people with concentration problems are more likely to experience issues as well. Nevertheless at least 80% of our patients use the integrated digital treatment plans.”

Added value of eHealth

“For me, blended care is a good incentive for the patient to share in the treatment process. The trend nowadays is that everything has to be faster, more goal-oriented and more efficient. Blended care is a suitable complement. The assignments can be provided online, including a clear explanation. Patients can complete them whenever they want. With eHealth patients become more autonomous, empowered and better informed.
They have to come into action themselves.”

Ambition

“Our starting point is: the patient does online what he (possibly with help of one of his loved ones) can do himself and we do the things we have to do in our sessions. Important is to view the implementation as ‘work in progress’, because we need to keep improving!”

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