Comparing Online and Face-to-Face Student Counselling: What Therapeutic Goals Are Identified and What Are the Implications for Educational Providers?

Hanley, Terry; Ersahin, Zehra; Sefi, Aaron; Hebron, Judith

doi:10.1017/jgc.2016.20

Cited by 33 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The issues young people bring to online counselling were wide ranging and included abuse/ violence, family/peer relationships, self-harm, depression, sexual abuse/rape, anxiety/stress, alcohol/drug misuse, anger, self-esteem, sex/sexuality issues and eating disorders. Four studies compared their online sample's presenting issues with other means of counselling (Callahan and Inckle, 2012;Hanley et al, 2016;King et al, 2006b;Sefi and Hanley, 2012). In doing so, these studies found that the online sample appeared to present with different reasons to the comparison group.…”

Section: Online Client Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using text-based synchronous chat to offer therapeutic support to students: A systematic review of the research literature

Ersahin

Hanley

2017

Health Education Journal

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Objective: Counselling within educational settings has now become commonplace. As with the advent of the use of new technologies in teaching, such developments are also impacting the broader support structures available to students. One development is the move of schools to offer pupils access to online counselling services. To date, such practices have received little attention, and this paper synthesises the existing empirical research literature in this area. Design: A systematic review of the literature was conducted which focused upon synchronous chat counselling for 11- to 25-year-olds. Method: Key bibliographic databases were searched for relevant papers. These were assessed for relevance and quality prior to being included into the analysis. The final selection of studies was analysed for key themes. Results: In all, 19 papers met the inclusion criteria. The thematic synthesis identified four higher order themes: (1) developing safe and youth-friendly online services, (2) online client characteristics, (3) in-session online processes and (4) session alliance and outcome. Conclusion: These themes outline the varied challenges and opportunities present within this developing practice. Each is initially discussed alongside existing literature related to online counselling before the implications for educational providers are explicitly considered. Ultimately, it is concluded that online counselling for students has much potential, however, those commissioning such services need to be mindful of common pitfalls.

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Section: Online Client Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using text-based synchronous chat to offer therapeutic support to students: A systematic review of the research literature

Ersahin

Hanley

2017

Health Education Journal

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“…Studies indicate that the motivations underpinning young people’s selection of TBOC modalities center on perceptions of its heightened safety due to environmental privacy, anonymity, autonomy, control, and emotional distance from the counsellor as well as its increased accessibility due to its convenience, ease of access, and affordability [35,38,49,52-55]. Other motivations include a preference for text communication and polarized minimal or heightened expectations about the outcome of counseling [37,56,57]. Studies indicate that most common presenting problems for young people accessing TBOC are related to mental health, relationships, and information-related requests (eg, medico-legal questions, service referrals, and resource requests) [31,38,39,48,58], with some evidence suggesting that service users experience a higher level of distress or perceived burden of the problem than those presenting on telephone-based modalities [39,50,51].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Young People’s Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Text-Based Online Counseling: Mixed Methods Pilot Study

Navarro¹,

Bambling²,

Sheffield³

et al. 2019

JMIR Ment Health

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Background Young people aged 10-24 years are at the highest risk for mental health problems and are the least likely to seek professional treatment. Owing to this population’s high consumption of internet content, electronic mental (e-mental) health services have increased globally, with an aim to address barriers to treatment. Many of these services use text-based online counseling (TBOC), which shows promising results in supporting young people but also greater variance in outcomes compared with adult comparators. Objective This pilot study qualitatively explored the characteristics of users aged 15-25 years accessing TBOC services, their motivations for access, and their perceptions about factors believed to influence the effectiveness of these modalities. Methods E-surveys were administered naturalistically to 100 young service users aged 15-25 years who accessed webchat and email counseling services via an Australian e-mental health service. Thematic analysis of qualitative themes and quantitative descriptive and proportional data presented in electronic surveys were examined across the areas of user characteristics, motivations for selecting TBOC modalities, and their perceptions of TBOC effectiveness. Results Participants were predominately female high school students of Caucasian or European descent from middle socioeconomic status, living with their parents in major cities. Four domains and various themes and subthemes were related to participants’ reasons for accessing TBOC and perceptions of its effectiveness: user characteristics (ie, physical and mental health syndrome and perceived social difficulties), selection factors (ie, safety, avoidance motivation, accessibility, and expectation), factors perceived to increase effectiveness (ie, general therapeutic benefits, positive modality and service factors, and persisting with counseling to increase benefit), and factors perceived to decrease effectiveness (ie, negative modality and service factors, and persisting with counseling despite benefit). Conclusions Participants were motivated to use TBOC to increase their sense of safety in response to negative perceptions of their social skills and the response of the online counsellor to their presenting problem. By using TBOC services, they also sought to improve their access to mental health services that better met their expectations. Factors that increased effectiveness of TBOC were the counsellor’s interpersonal skills, use of text-based communication, and persisting with beneficial counseling sessions. Factors that reduced TBOC effectiveness were poor timeliness in response to service requests, experiencing no change in their presenting problem, not knowing what postcounseling action to take, and persisting with ineffective counseling sessions.

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“…As a consequence, individuals may choose to access a combination of resources, with informative static webpages about particular issues, peer discussion forums, and professional support and guidance. The desire to obtain different types of support has previously been observed in the goals articulated by clients in web-based therapy [ 52 ] and the way that individuals use online forums [ 53 ]. Therefore, psychological services that offer anonymous therapy and support on the web need to be prepared to offer a variety of resources to accommodate the informational and emotional needs for which individuals access services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Theory of Change for Web-Based Therapy and Support Services for Children and Young People: Collaborative Qualitative Exploration

Hanley¹,

Sefi²,

Grauberg³

et al. 2021

JMIR Pediatr Parent

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Background Web-based counseling and support has become increasingly commonplace for children and young people (CYP). Currently, there is limited research that focuses on the mechanisms of change within complex telepsychology platforms, a factor that makes designing and implementing outcome measures challenging. Objective This project aims to articulate a theory of change (ToC) for Kooth, a web-based therapy and support platform for CYP. Methods A collaborative qualitative research design involving professional staff, academic partners, and young people was used to develop the ToC. The following three major reflective phases were engaged: a scoping workshop involving professional staff and academic partners, a series of explorative projects were completed to inform the development of the ToC, and the draft ToC was reviewed for coherence by key stakeholders (young people, online professionals, and service managers). Results A collaboratively developed ToC was presented. This was divided into the conditions that lead to individuals wanting to access web-based therapy and support (eg, individuals wanting support there and then or quickly), the mode of service delivery (eg, skilled and experienced professionals able to build empathetic relationships with CYP), and the observed and reported changes that occur as a consequence of using the service (eg, individuals being better able to manage current and future situations). Conclusions Developing the ToC helps to shed light on how web-based therapy and support services aid the mental health and well-being of CYP. Furthermore, it helps to understand the development of positive virtual ecosystems and can be used to devise evaluative tools for CYP telepsychology providers.

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Comparing Online and Face-to-Face Student Counselling: What Therapeutic Goals Are Identified and What Are the Implications for Educational Providers?

Cited by 33 publications

References 51 publications

Using text-based synchronous chat to offer therapeutic support to students: A systematic review of the research literature

Using text-based synchronous chat to offer therapeutic support to students: A systematic review of the research literature

Exploring Young People’s Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Text-Based Online Counseling: Mixed Methods Pilot Study

A Theory of Change for Web-Based Therapy and Support Services for Children and Young People: Collaborative Qualitative Exploration

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