Patient comfort with audio or video recording of their psychotherapy sessions: Relation to symptomatology, treatment refusal, duration, and outcome.

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of audio or video recording in psychotherapy training and research, there has been surprisingly little exploration of patient reactions to the use of recordings in psychotherapy, and there is even less written about patient factors that influence their willingness to consent to recording practices or the impact of such a request on treatment. The present study examined the relationship between pretreatment patient symptomatology and patient attitudes toward the audio or video recording of psychotherapy sessions. Treatment refusal, duration, and outcome were also examined as they related to patient comfort with recording. A total of 390 participants completed an initial intake in a universitybased community outpatient clinic. Pretreatment patient symptomatology was measured at the initial intake evaluation using the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993), and patient attitudes toward audio or video recording were measured using an audio/videotape comfort form. The majority of patients expressed no or slight concerns (52%), and almost three quarters (71%) were willing to consider audio or video recording. It was found that higher levels of pretreatment interpersonal sensitivity and paranoia have a significant negative relationship to recording comfort (i.e., greater pathology related to lower comfort). However, treatment refusal, duration, and outcome were not significantly related to patient comfort with recording. Significant intake clinician effects were observed in regard to patient-rated comfort regarding audio or video recordings, indicating a relationship between patients' intake clinician and their level of comfort. Therapist effects were examined with regard to treatment refusal, duration, and outcome, and all results remained nonsignificant. This research has implications for and supports the implementation of audio-or video-recording practices in clinical training, research, and practice.

Assessing the subjective experience of participating in a clinical trial (AVATAR)

“…However, these were not found to be problematic in this study. This is in line with previous research in which participants expressed no or slight concerns to being recorded and the implementation of audio recording in research, practice and clinical training was supported (Briggie et al, 2016).…”

“…The findings also support the view that audio recording of sessions may offer reassurance to some participants in that the content and process of the research is being captured objectively (Briggie et al, 2016). This has implications for its continued use in clinical practice and research.…”

“…It is therefore of interest to assess the impact of participating in the AVATAR Clinical Trial and to understand the associated benefits by asking the participants involved. Little is also known about the impact of audio recordings in research and practice despite its widespread use (Briggie et al, 2016).…”

Recording client sessions during psychotherapy training: From “an absurd idea” to “potent learning”

“…Correspondingly, while some clients are less likely to consent to recording (those presenting with high anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoia or sexuality concerns: Briggie, Hilsenroth, Conway, Muran, & Jackson, 2016;Ellis, 2010), recent studies indicate that most clients are comfortable with recording. Between one-half to three-quarters have been reported to agree to it, particularly once able to discuss it with their therapist (Briggie et al, 2016;Brown et al, 2013;Ko & Goebert, 2011;Shepherd, Salkovskis, & Morris, 2009). However, concerns have been raised about potential overcompliance by clients, one study reporting that not all clients fully understood the reasons for recording, identifying no personal benefits, apart from feeling good about helping their therapist (Brown et al, 2013).…”

Leveraging the Power of Nondisruptive Technologies to Optimize Mental Health Treatment: Case Study

“…For example, 71% of patients in a recent study were open to considering audio or video recordings of their treatment sessions. The patients’ comfort with recording was not associated with treatment refusal, duration, or outcomes [ 31 ].…”