During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many psychotherapists who were used to seeing their patients in face-toface setting adapted to providing therapies online. In the present pilot study, we investigated therapist current experiences of online therapy compared to live therapy. Twenty-nine therapists completed Clinical Skills, Difficulties in Practice, and in-sessions feelings of Flow, Boredom and Anxiety of the Trainee Current Progress Report, giving a score for each item in two different conditions: Live Therapy and Online Therapy. Compared to Live Therapy, in Online Therapy therapists reported significantly less Clinical Skills, whereas Difficulties in Practice did not differ in the considered conditions. With regard to in-sessions feeling, therapists reported significantly lower scores of Boring and higher scores of Flow in Live Therapy compared to Online Therapy, whereas Anxiety did not differed in the considered conditions.

ZusammenfassungDer Artikel geht der gesellschaftsrelevanten Frage nach, welche Versorgungskonzepte und Qualitätssicherungsmaßnahmen erforderlich sind, um der Psychotherapie als Behandlung einen versorgungsrelevanten Stellenwert in der österreichischen Gesundheitsversorgung einzuräumen. Er geht auf soziologische Ursachen für den Anstieg psychischer Krankheiten sowie auf Fakten zum Bedarf, auf Prävalenzzahlen, Versorgungsdaten und -mittel ein und beschreibt, wie die Entwicklung einer Nationalen Strategie Psychische Gesundheit helfen kann, die flächendeckende Versorgung mit Psychotherapie zu verbessern.Der Artikel beruht auf den Erkenntnissen der Autorinnen aus der Tagung 2020 „VersorgungsNOTwendigkeit – Versorgung in der NOT“ – veranstaltet von der Koordinationsstelle Psychotherapieforschung an der Gesundheit Österreich GmbH – und der vertieften Auseinandersetzung zum Thema Psychotherapieversorgung bzw. Versorgungsnot: In Fokusgruppen bzw. im Fachbeirat der Koordinationsstelle wurden die Fragen der Psychotherapieversorgung diskutiert sowie eine Literaturanalyse und vertiefende exemplarische explorative Interviews zum Thema durchgeführt. Der Artikel bietet erste Ergebnisse dieser Analysen, Recherchen, Reflexionen und die Schlussfolgerungen der Autorinnen.

The aim of this study was to examine cross-cultural differences, as operationalized by Schwartz's refined theory of basic values, in burnout levels among psychotherapists from 12 European countries during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We focused on the multilevel approach to investigate if individual- and country-aggregated level values could explain differences in burnout intensity after controlling for sociodemographic, work-related characteristics and COVID-19-related distress among participants. 2915 psychotherapists from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Great Britain, Serbia, Spain, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland) participated in this study. The participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Survey, the revised version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire, and a survey questionnaire on sociodemographic, work-related factors and the COVID-19 related distress. In general, the lowest mean level of burnout was noted for Romania, whereas the highest mean burnout intensity was reported for Cyprus. Multilevel analysis revealed that burnout at the individual level was negatively related to self-transcendence and openness-to-change but positively related to self-enhancement and conservation values. However, no significant effects on any values were observed at the country level. Male sex, younger age, being single, and reporting higher COVID-19-related distress were significant burnout correlates. Burnout among psychotherapists may be a transcultural phenomenon, where individual differences among psychotherapists are likely to be more important than differences between the countries of their practice. This finding enriches the discussion on training in psychotherapy in an international context and draws attention to the neglected issue of mental health among psychotherapists in the context of their professional functioning.

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