Direct-to-Consumer Marketing of Evidence-Based Psychological Interventions: Introduction

The dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychological interventions (EBPIs) to service provision settings has been a major challenge. Most efforts to disseminate and implement EBPIs have focused on clinicians and clinical systems as the consumers of these treatments and thus have targeted efforts to these groups. An alternative, complementary approach to achieve more widespread utilization of EBPIs is to disseminate directly to patients themselves. The aim of this special section is to explore several direct-to-consumer (i.e., patient) dissemination and education efforts currently underway. This manuscript highlights the rationale for direct-to-patient dissemination strategies as well as the application of marketing science to dissemination efforts. Achieving greater access to EBPIs will require the use of multiple approaches to overcome the many and varied barriers to successful dissemination and implementation.

► Dissemination and implementation efforts to date have focused primarily on clinicians and clinical system.
► An alternative, complementary approach is to disseminate information directly to patients themselves.
► This series explores several direct-to-consumer (i.e., patient) dissemination and education efforts currently under way.
► The rationale for direct-to-patient dissemination efforts and the application of marketing strategies are highlighted.