Qualitative evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of remote delivery of the Mood on Track Group Intervention in a rural Secondary Mental Health Team

Video conferencing is increasingly being used to offer psychological individual and group interventions to service users (Thomas et al., 2021). This increase has been influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic and increasing access to services (Gentry et al., 2019). The aim of this evaluation was to examine service user and facilitator perspectives of remote delivery of a psychoeducational group for bipolar disorder, known as the Mood on Track (MoT) intervention. The findings were intended to inform decisions about methods of delivering the MoT intervention in a rural community treatment team (CTT). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six service users and five facilitators who had taken part in MoT remotely in the CTT. Interview transcripts were analysed using Thematic Analysis (TA) (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Analysis generated three over-arching themes containing nine themes and five sub-themes that described relative advantages and disadvantages of remote delivery of MoT in Cumbria. The findings suggested that remote delivery reduced barriers to attending the group such as fluctuations in mood, anxiety and travel. Disadvantages included the negative impact on the quality of the relationships formed within the group. Facilitators also had to adapt to additional challenges and modify the content, style of facilitation and procedures. Overall, participants reported benefits from attending the intervention remotely that paralleled those reported in face-to-face psychoeducational groups. Remote delivery of the MoT appeared to be a viable alternative method of delivering the intervention to participants who may struggle to access a face-to-face intervention due to personal and external factors.