Remotely-Delivered CBT for English-Speaking Psychiatric Outpatients across Quebec: An Evaluation of Treatment Effectiveness, Treatment Acceptability and Barriers to Accessing Care

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the ‘gold standard’ psychological intervention for most mental health problems, however, access to CBT is often challenging due to long clinic waitlists and limited availability of trained professionals in all communities. In Quebec, English-speaking Quebecers are faced with additional challenges in accessing care due to their status as a linguistic minority. One method of increasing access to CBT is using a model of remote service delivery whereby clinics that specialize in CBT can provide services in English to patients located anywhere in the province. Using a non-randomized design, we aim to examine whether providing remotely-delivered CBT to English-speaking Quebecers from across the province will lead to similar improvements in symptoms and functioning compared to patients receiving in-person treatment. We will also examine questionnaire results and identify themes in patients’ written feedback to assess their treatment satisfaction and to better understand their experiences of receiving remotely-delivered CBT. This study will be conducted in the Centre for CBT Research, Training and Intervention (Centre for CBT-RTI), a clinic located in the McGill University Health Centre. The Centre for CBT-RTI is a non-sectorized clinic staffed by bilingual mental health professionals with expertise in CBT who provide in person and remotely-delivered CBT for patients from across Quebec. The findings from this research are anticipated to increase awareness among mental health professionals and key stakeholders in government and hospital administration about the benefits of remote-delivered CBT and patient preferences for service-delivery.