Parent preferences and experiences with psychological treatment: Results from a direct-to-consumer survey using the marketing mix framework.

Abstract

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing strategies represent an increasingly popular approach to promote patient awareness of psychological treatments (PTs). The Marketing Mix is a well-established framework used to inform marketing decisions consisting of four "P's": Product (or Service), Promotion, Place, and Price. We conducted the first DTC marketing survey using the Marketing Mix framework to explore how parents concerned about their adolescents' behavioral health receive information about PTs. A sample of 411 parents (51% girls, 82% Non-Hispanic White) of 12- to 19-year-old adolescents completed an online survey asking how they would prefer to receive information about PTs, including five questions spanning the Promotion, Price, and Place dimensions of The Marketing Mix. A subsample of 158 parents also reported on how they had received PT information during their adolescent's most recent therapy experience, allowing us to compare ideal versus actual therapy experiences. We explored the extent to which experiences varied as a function of parent race/ethnicity, income per capita, parent education level, and adolescent treatment history. Bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regressions were used to examine which of these variables were associated with parents' responses to specific survey items. Analyses revealed that parent preferences varied as a function of income per capita, education level, and history of treatment. In addition, there were significant gaps between parents' ideal and most recent therapy experiences. Implications for the marketing of PTs are discussed.

Understanding of evidence‐based mental health care and the perceived importance of scientific information in a sample of U.S. adults

“…For example, narrative‐based health education about cervical cancer has been found to be particularly beneficial for Hispanic Mexican American women (Murphy et al, ). In addition, the use of testimonials should also be considered and tested, as this was a communication method preferred by a diverse sample of parents in DTC study by Becker, Helseth et al () on parent preferences for receiving information about psychological treatments.…”

“…Similarly, Becker et al () found that consumers of adolescent substance use treatment were unfamiliar with the concept of evidence‐based therapy and had concerns that the approach seemed inflexible. Finally, two studies found that perceptions of and preferences for information about EBMHC vary according to consumer socio‐demographic and clinical characteristics such as education, race/ethnicity, income, and a history of treatment (Becker, Helseth, Frank, Escobar, & Weeks, ; S. J. Becker, Weeks et al, ).…”

Marketing therapy to parents concerned about adolescent substance use: Association of adolescent problems and parent preferences for direct-to-consumer marketing.

“…Our research team has previously examined parent preferences and opinions about therapy across all four dimensions of the Marketing Mix (Becker et al, 2018; Becker, Helseth, Frank, Escobar, & Weeks, 2018; Becker, Spirito, & Vanmali, 2016). Our work focusing on the product dimension revealed that parents had limited familiarity with the concept of evidence-based therapy, had incorrect assumptions about what it means, and had unfavorable impressions of the term (Becker et al, 2016).…”

Improving the Reach of Clinical Practice Guidelines: An Experimental Investigation of Message Framing on User Engagement

“…There is much room for research in this area; in a recent study of U.S. adults in an online sample, only 20% could accurately define evidence-based mental health care (Mora Ringle et al, 2019). In a sample of parents concerned about their teens’ substance use, almost 70% reported wanting to hear about psychological treatments via the web (Becker, Helseth, Frank, Escobar, & Weeks, 2018), and most of these same parents also reported valuing evidence-based-practice principles (Becker, Weeks, et al, 2018). However, very little research has examined how to promote potential consumers’ engagement with information about evidence-based psychological treatments or how to best define it in terms that the public will appreciate.…”