Therapeutic Alliance in Online and Face-to-face Psychological Treatment: Comparative Study
BackgroundSince the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of online mental health treatments have grown exponentially. Additionally, it seems inevitable that this technical resource is here to stay at health centers. However, there is still very little scholarly literature published...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-05-01
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| Series: | JMIR Mental Health |
| Online Access: | https://mental.jmir.org/2022/5/e36775 |
| _version_ | 1797735152141467648 |
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| author | Josep Mercadal Rotger Victor Cabré |
| author_facet | Josep Mercadal Rotger Victor Cabré |
| author_sort | Josep Mercadal Rotger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundSince the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of online mental health treatments have grown exponentially. Additionally, it seems inevitable that this technical resource is here to stay at health centers. However, there is still very little scholarly literature published on this topic, and therefore, the impact of the changes that have had to be dealt with in this regard has not been studied.
ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the differences in the establishment of the therapeutic alliance (TA) based on the intervention modality (online or face-to-face), the type of attachment, and diagnosis.
MethodsA total of 291 subjects participated in the study, 149 (51.2%) of whom were men and 142 were (48.8%) women between the ages of 18 and 30 years. The instruments used were sociodemographic data, SOFTA-o (System for Observing Family Therapeutic Alliances—observational), and Relationship Questionnaire.
ResultsThe results show that the treatments conducted face-to-face obtain significantly better scores in the creation of the TA than those conducted online (t=–42.045, df=289, P<.001). The same holds true with attachment, in that users with secure attachment show a better TA than those with insecure attachment (t=6.068, P<.001,), although there were no significant differences with the diagnosis (F=4.566, P=.44), age (r=0.02, P=.70), and sex (t=0.217, P=.33).
ConclusionsWe believe that professionals are not yet prepared to conduct remote treatment with a degree of efficacy similar to that of face-to-face. It is essential for professionals to receive training in this new technical resource and to understand and incorporate the variants it entails into their daily practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:53:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bdc8251c60c64da2b48c1145e4500f0f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2368-7959 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:53:51Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Mental Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-bdc8251c60c64da2b48c1145e4500f0f2023-08-28T21:42:13ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Mental Health2368-79592022-05-0195e3677510.2196/36775Therapeutic Alliance in Online and Face-to-face Psychological Treatment: Comparative StudyJosep Mercadal Rotgerhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7338-8817Victor Cabréhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2496-0140 BackgroundSince the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of online mental health treatments have grown exponentially. Additionally, it seems inevitable that this technical resource is here to stay at health centers. However, there is still very little scholarly literature published on this topic, and therefore, the impact of the changes that have had to be dealt with in this regard has not been studied. ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the differences in the establishment of the therapeutic alliance (TA) based on the intervention modality (online or face-to-face), the type of attachment, and diagnosis. MethodsA total of 291 subjects participated in the study, 149 (51.2%) of whom were men and 142 were (48.8%) women between the ages of 18 and 30 years. The instruments used were sociodemographic data, SOFTA-o (System for Observing Family Therapeutic Alliances—observational), and Relationship Questionnaire. ResultsThe results show that the treatments conducted face-to-face obtain significantly better scores in the creation of the TA than those conducted online (t=–42.045, df=289, P<.001). The same holds true with attachment, in that users with secure attachment show a better TA than those with insecure attachment (t=6.068, P<.001,), although there were no significant differences with the diagnosis (F=4.566, P=.44), age (r=0.02, P=.70), and sex (t=0.217, P=.33). ConclusionsWe believe that professionals are not yet prepared to conduct remote treatment with a degree of efficacy similar to that of face-to-face. It is essential for professionals to receive training in this new technical resource and to understand and incorporate the variants it entails into their daily practice.https://mental.jmir.org/2022/5/e36775 |
| spellingShingle | Josep Mercadal Rotger Victor Cabré Therapeutic Alliance in Online and Face-to-face Psychological Treatment: Comparative Study JMIR Mental Health |
| title | Therapeutic Alliance in Online and Face-to-face Psychological Treatment: Comparative Study |
| title_full | Therapeutic Alliance in Online and Face-to-face Psychological Treatment: Comparative Study |
| title_fullStr | Therapeutic Alliance in Online and Face-to-face Psychological Treatment: Comparative Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Therapeutic Alliance in Online and Face-to-face Psychological Treatment: Comparative Study |
| title_short | Therapeutic Alliance in Online and Face-to-face Psychological Treatment: Comparative Study |
| title_sort | therapeutic alliance in online and face to face psychological treatment comparative study |
| url | https://mental.jmir.org/2022/5/e36775 |
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