Therapeutic Alliance in Face-to-Face Versus Videoconferenced Psychotherapy.

Abstract

Despite the great potential videoconferencing holds for providing psychotherapy services to a wide range of individuals, it is presently underused by psychologists. Do psychologists hold negative attitudes that interfere with their willingness to use the technology? What do psychologists think about the impact of the technology on the therapeutic alliance? Thirty clinical psychologists were randomly assigned to watch an identical therapy session, either face-to-face or videoconferencing format. Our prediction that psychologists in the videoconferencing condition would rate the therapeutic alliance significantly lower than would psychologists in the face-to-face condition was supported. We discuss the need to develop appropriate therapist training and improve the general dissemination of information regarding videoconferencing as an important means by which to reduce negative attitudes toward the technology.

Internet y psicología clínica : revisión de las ciber-terapias

“…Sin embargo, a pesar del gran número de usos que se pueden aprovechar de esta tecnología, llama la atención su escasa utilización, y los prejuicios y críticas que generan (Rees y Stone, 2005). En principio, el escaso acercamiento de la psicología a internet, podría atribuirse a una serie de mitos compartidos por gran número de profesionales.…”

“…Estas ventajas y desventajas están resumidas en la Tabla 2 (Abney y Maddux, 2004;Alexander y Zeibland, 2006;Andersson, 2009;Bischoff, et al, 2004;Giles, 2001;Glueckauf, et al, 2002;F. Griffiths, Lindenmeyer, Powell, Lowe, y Thorogood, 2006;Pelechano, 2007;Ramírez-Moreno, et al, 2007;Rees y Stone, 2005;Valero, 2003;. Es conveniente destacar que literatura muy reciente respecto a las ciber-terapias señala que no existirían razones para no utilizar el apoyo de intervenciones y recursos disponibles en internet, al menos como componente del tratamiento tradicional (Andersson, 2009), lo que se traduciría en, al menos, el uso de correo-e o de la disposición de información online como parte rutinaria de las intervenciones.…”

Cybertherapeutic Theory and Techniques

“…Internet telephoning and videoconferencing attempt to re-create the more sensory-rich sights and sounds of an in-person encounter. Some research has begun to explore the use and effectiveness of such online audiovisual interventions (Day & Schneider, 2002;Glueckauf et al, 2002;Manchanda & Mclaren, 1998;Rees & Stone, 2005;Simpson, 2003). In this category of sensory-rich communication, we may also include the more imaginary multimedia environments in which the therapeutic process takes place in an artificially constructed scene or "virtual reality" -in some cases including visual icons called avatars that clients use to represent themselves within that environment (Gaggioli, Mantovani, Castelnuovo, Wiederhold, & Riva, 2003;Glantz, Rizzo, & Graap, 2003;Riva, 2000Riva, , 2003Schuemie, Van der Straaten, Krijn, & Van der Mast, 2001;Wiederhold & Wiederhold, 1998).…”

Use of Online Therapy among Spanish Psychologists

“…The major concern of therapists using new technologies is to create a good therapeutic relationship. In the study by Rees and Stone, there were no significant differences between therapeutic relationships developed in face-to-face therapy and distance therapy, especially in the case of video conferences [1].…”