Provider Hesitancy Toward Single-Session Interventions for Mental Health Problems: Malleability and Implications for Adoption in Routine Care Settings

Introduction: Despite the promise of SSIs in reducing mental health difficulties, SSIs remain rarely integrated into routine healthcare settings. One set of factors that can preclude or facilitate the implementation of novel service models is provider attitudes, which have not been systematically studied in the SSI context. Accordingly, the objectives of this paper are to: (1) discuss the importance of provider attitudes as a potential barrier or facilitator to the deployment of SSIs in routine healthcare systems; (2) provide evidence on providers’ initial attitudes toward SSIs; and (3) outline recommendations to address attitudes towards SSIs in future implementation efforts. Method: A total of 466 providers rated their attitudes towards SSIs before and immediately after a brief training. The aims and data analytic plan were pre-registered on OSF (https://osf.io/zgvmw/). Results: The average minimum number of sessions providers believed as necessary to yield clinically-significant symptom reductions declined from 11.02 (SD = 23.14) to 4.44 (SD = 9.78) from pre-to-post training. Participants perceived the SSI to be useful (Mpre = 3.92, Mpost = 4.12) at both pre-and-post training. Expectancies of the SSI’s acceptability (Mpre = 3.45, Mpost = 3.76) and effectiveness (Mpre = 2.99, Mpost = 3.59) grew more positive post-training. Perceptions around the SSC’s limitations did not meet the cut- off (Mpre = 3.07, Mpost = 3.10) at both time points. Conclusion. Provider attitudes represent a targetable implementation facilitator to promote the uptake and sustainment of SSIs in routine healthcare settings.