Going Online: The Affordances of Online Counseling for Families Affected by Alcohol and Other Drug Issues

Abstract

Online counseling can overcome barriers families face when accessing support services for issues such as a relative’s alcohol or other drug use. However, little research has explored how online counseling platforms assist family members to improve their well-being and support their relative. We thematically analyzed 90 transcripts of online counseling sessions with family and friends of people who use alcohol, opioids, and amphetamines in Australia between 2015 and 2016. In our analysis, we drew on the concept of affordances to articulate how online platforms afford or constrain potentially therapeutic encounters with families. We found online counseling enabled families to make first contact, relieve distress, plan appropriate action, improve communication, regain direction, and connect with local services. Sessions were constrained by Internet access, web-chat communication, counselors’ focus on referral, and limitations in addressing the wider concerns of families. The findings present opportunities for improving online services for families.

Effects of Transmission Delay on Client Participation in Video-Mediated Group Health Counseling

“…Our findings align with earlier research that has highlighted communication difficulties as the central problem of technologically mediated counseling (Dilkes-Frayne et al, 2019; Stommel & van der Houwen, 2014), VM interaction in health care (Dalley et al, 2021), and VM interaction in general (Ruhleder & Jordan, 2001; Rusk & Pörn, 2019). We add to this knowledge by showing that these difficulties may be difficult to notice and name and therefore shape the interaction even when they remain hidden.…”

“…In addition to its effectiveness in, for instance, diabetes care (Laitinen et al, 2010), VM counseling has many other potential benefits, such as increased access to services, especially in peripheral areas, and service provision without physical contact during epidemics like COVID-19. Problems with communication are often pointed out as deficiencies of both text-based counseling (Dilkes-Frayne et al, 2019; Stommel & van der Houwen, 2014) and VM interaction in other health care settings (Dalley et al, 2021), but less is known about how VM shapes the interactional dynamics of participation in group counseling. In this article, we examine how interaction dynamics, possibilities for client participation, and related positive social processes in VM group health counseling for Type 2 diabetes are shaped by transmission delay caused by the technical processes of VM.…”

Perspectives, Experiences, and Practices in the Use of Digital Information Technologies in the Management of Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder in Health Care Systems in Colombia

“…They strongly emphasized that it should not replace the patient–provider relationship. These perceptions may be unique to the Colombian experience around alcohol use disorder treatment, as previous research in the United States has found that patients often prefer online, as opposed to face-to-face counseling, as it allows for anonymity (Dilkes-Frayne et al, 2019). Furthermore, studies have shown that e-mediated communication can strengthen the patient–provider relationship and improve trust by lowering barriers for contacting providers, which was a benefit that was not discussed during our focus groups or interviews (Andreassen et al, 2006).…”

Enacting ‘more-than-human’ care: Clients’ and counsellors’ views on the multiple affordances of chatbots in alcohol and other drug counselling

“…Given that human and non-human actors (e.g., discourses, time, places, objects) may combine differently in specific encounters with a technology, such as a chatbot, the opportunities for action (or ‘affordances’) that a technology enables or constrains are always contingent and situated. In view of this, a socio-material approach underscores the need to examine the unique relations of human and non-human forces in specific contexts in order to trace how affordances are differentially constituted ( Dilkes-Frayne, Savic, Carter, Kokanović, & Lubman, 2019 ).…”

“…This innovative approach to hepatitis C prevention treats the sexual partnership as the primary unit of intervention and aims to generate new affordances or possibilities for prevention. Socio-material approaches to affordances have since been productively applied to analyse a range of phenomena including the uses and effects of naloxone (an overdose reversal drug) ( Farrugia et al., 2019 ), supervised drug consumption sites ( Boyd et al., 2020 ) and, related to our own work, the relationship between online counselling platforms and therapeutic outcomes ( Dilkes-Frayne, Savic, Carter, Kokanović, & Lubman, 2019 ). The concept of affordances has also been mobilised in a study of the gender affordances of chatbots, specifically how the gender of a chatbot influences users’ engagement with it ( Brahnam & De Angeli, 2012 ).…”