‘Isolated together’: online group treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic review

Abstract

Considering the emerging need to face the negative impact of the pandemic on mental health, social support, and access to health services, it became a critical issue to adapt to online group settings, and create new group interventions to face the developing distress during this time. The aim of the current study is to investigate the main findings on OPGI conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 until March 2022, with a particular focus on: a) the therapeutic group factors; b) what kind of OPGI works and for whom; c) settings and emerging dimensions. In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, we performed a systematic review on scientific databases (PsychINFO, PubMed, Web of Science and EBSCO) searching for studies published between March 2020 and March 2022. “Group intervention” or “group therapy” or “group treatment” crossed with “COVID-19” and synonymous, were used as keywords. Internet based intervention was used as an eligibility criteria during the full-text screening. A total of 1326 articles were identified, of which 24 met the inclusion criteria. Among all studies, with different participants and different orientations, data extracted supported psychological online group interventions as an effective approach to reducing psychological distress and increasing psychological resources in the interpersonal field. Our findings also showed that COVID-19 has led to new needs and issues, that require the investigation of new dimensions for online psychological interventions. Methodological and clinical implications will be discussed through a descriptive table related to setting characteristics. Recommendations are made for future research.

When the algorithm ‘matches’ us: The experiences of early‐career psychologists on online platform services for psychotherapy and counselling in Italy

“…Our study has some limitations. We did not explore the perspective of 'digital immigrants,' such as psychologists who had many years of experience in traditional in-person settings and then decided to also begin working online (Margherita et al, 2022). Perhaps this explains why some recurrent themes that emerged in previous studies on clinicians' experiences online did not emerge in our study, such as the need for digital literacy, the difficulty in using online tools, and fatigue (Fauville et al, 2023;Mancinelli et al, 2021).…”

“…The first and second authors have backgrounds in clinical psychology, and their previous research activity involved the study of online psychological interventions and the e‐community (Margherita et al, 2018, 2020, 2022). The first author is also a senior psychologist and psychotherapist with a psychodynamic orientation.…”

“…Considering platforms as services created 'by young people for young people' (Guelfi, 2022), we decided to involve early-career psychologists in our study. We have previously distinguished 'digital native' interventions, which were online and designed from scratch, and 'digital immigrants' which were originally in-person interventions that were transposed and adapted online (Margherita et al, 2022).…”

“…Among them is videoconferencing psychotherapy (VCP; Norwood et al, 2018), the dissemination of which was influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic that paved the way for transitioning to online interventions to guarantee uninterrupted mental health care service (Fernández-Álvarez & Fernández-Álvarez, 2021;Mancinelli et al, 2021;Margherita et al, 2022;Tomaino et al, 2022). This has become a phenomenon in Italy, which was one of the first countries in Europe affected by COVID-19 with numerous contagions and deaths (Tomaino et al, 2022).…”