Considerations in the Use of Telecommunications as a Primary Treatment Medium: The Application of Behavioral Telehealth to Marriage and Family Therapy

Bischoff, Richard J.

doi:10.1080/01926180490437376

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Although the promise of teletherapy grew with the development of the internet, mental health professionals were late and cautious adopters (Jencius & Sager, 2001). Bischoff (2004) pointed out the benefits of convenience and access alongside disadvantages related to client confidentiality and the loss of immediate physical presence. In subsequent years, few couple and family therapists reported using teleconferencing often in their clinical practice, and most balked at the prospect of using teletherapy as the primary mode of contact (Hertlein, Blumer, & Smith, 2014).…”

Section: The Rapprochement Of Teletherapy and Relational Therapistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from the Transition to Relational Teletherapy During COVID‐19

2020

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When the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, clinicians were challenged to maintain continuity of care. Teletherapy became the primary means of service delivery for many who had never or only sparingly used it. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, in response to encouraging findings with respect to the effectiveness of teletherapy and recognizing advantages with respect to access to care, launched our teletherapy services in 2018. As a relationship‐based organization, we were keen to exploit the opportunity that teletherapy provides to integrate additional members of the client system into the treatment. Over these two plus years, we have learned a great deal. Our learning was greatly accelerated by our transition to a 100% teletherapy practice in the wake of the pandemic. Teletherapy is a different context. Intentionally managing the context’s constraints and exploiting its strengths is key to providing high‐quality couple and family therapy. This step is often overlooked or resisted when teletherapy is an occasional add‐on to a face‐to‐face practice.

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Section: The Rapprochement Of Teletherapy and Relational Therapistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from the Transition to Relational Teletherapy During COVID‐19

2020

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“…"As a client knowing whether or not there's going to be real empathy on the other side of the screen, you know, that's, and how that's going to um flow, that's just an interesting question on my mind at the moment." [27] This is a valid concern; however, research has found that it is in fact possible for emotions to be successfully conveyed through a technological medium (Bischoff, 2004).…”

Section: Connection and Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectations and Experiences of Couples Receiving Therapy Through Videoconferencing: A Qualitative Study

et al. 2020

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Videoconferencing is an emerging medium through which psychological therapy, including relationship interventions for couples, can be delivered. Understanding clients' expectations and experiences of receiving therapy through this medium is important for optimizing future delivery. This study used a qualitative methodology to explore the expectations and experiences of couples throughout the process of the Couple CARE program, which was delivered through videoconferencing. Fifteen couples participated in semi-structured interviews during the first and last sessions of the intervention. The interviews were conducted using the iChat program, with the therapist conducting the first interview and an external interviewer conducting the second. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the interview transcripts. Five themes were identified from the pre-therapy interviews, reflecting couples' initial impressions and expectations: new experience, comparison, practical aspects, connection and dynamics, and distance and space. Couples' experiences were explored in the eight themes from the post-therapy interviews: technicalities, the idea of "distance," satisfaction and comfort, confidentiality, comparisons, new experience, expectations change, and working alliance. Overall, the present study found that couples experienced a positive shift in expectations. Despite some initial concerns regarding the therapist's ability to empathize over a screen and the potential for the technology to break down, many clients noted that videoconferencing allowed them to become fully immersed in the therapeutic process. In fact, many couples felt that videoconferencing created an element of 'distance' from the therapist that allowed them to feel a greater sense of control and comfort. Couples consistently described being able to effectively connect with the therapist, and that the video actually enhanced the therapeutic alliance, due to a greater perceived focus on therapy processes. Overall, despite some initial concerns, the majority of couples found the videoconferencing experience to be beneficial and positive.

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“…The exclusive use of written communication has caused concerns for possible misunderstandings but other researchers believe that, due to the asynchronous nature of the communication, the information and the support provided are of higher quality (Griffiths & Cooper, 2003) and the time available for the formulation of the question and the answer diminishes the possibility of misunderstandings (Bischoff, 2004). Also the difficulties that have been noted in expressing subtle or complex meanings in writing that are readily expressed verbally, have been shown to increase mental health professionals' involvement in the intervention (Hall, 2004).…”

Section: Asynchronous Written Communicationmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Therefore, web-based interventions seem ideal for people who are not ready to make use of traditional services (Oravec, 2000), for people who are geographically isolated or living abroad and prefer to receive services in their native language (Bischoff, 2004), and for people suffering from motor disabilities (Barak, 1999).…”

Section: Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ psychological web consulting: function and outcome evaluation

Efstathiou

2009

British Journal of Guidance & Counselling

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This paper refers to a brief interaction with a mental health professional via written electronic communication. Web consulting services have proved popular, but there is controversy regarding the efficacy of such brief interventions to address problems and enable service users to access other forms of counselling. University students are accustomed to new technologies and often present difficulties suitable for simple intervention. Additionally, interventions of this type lead to the creation of a 'database' of students' issues that can be used by future service users, alleviating the heavy workload of most services. Data from prior investigations are presented and ways to further investigate, validate and evaluate the function and outcome of web consulting in the context of students' psychological counselling are discussed.

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Considerations in the Use of Telecommunications as a Primary Treatment Medium: The Application of Behavioral Telehealth to Marriage and Family Therapy

Cited by 28 publications

References 24 publications

Lessons from the Transition to Relational Teletherapy During COVID‐19

Lessons from the Transition to Relational Teletherapy During COVID‐19

Expectations and Experiences of Couples Receiving Therapy Through Videoconferencing: A Qualitative Study

Students’ psychological web consulting: function and outcome evaluation

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