Therapeutic interventions in in‐person and remote psychotherapy: Survey with psychotherapists and patients experiencing in‐person and remote psychotherapy during COVID‐19

Abstract

Objective First, to investigate how psychotherapists and patients experience the change from in‐person to remote psychotherapy or vice versa during COVID‐19 regarding the therapeutic interventions used. Second, to explore the influence of therapeutic orientations on therapeutic interventions in in‐person versus remote psychotherapy. Method Psychotherapists ( N = 217) from Austria were recruited, who in turn recruited their patients ( N = 133). The therapeutic orientation of the therapists was psychodynamic (22.6%), humanistic (46.1%), systemic (20.7%) or behavioural (10.6%). All the data were collected remotely via online surveys. Therapists and patients completed two versions of the ‘Multitheoretical List of Therapeutic Interventions’ (MULTI‐30) (version 1: in‐person; version 2: remote) to investigate differences between in‐person and remote psychotherapy in the following therapeutic interventions: psychodynamic, common factors, person‐centred, process‐experiential, interpersonal, cognitive, behavioural and dialectical‐behavioural. Results Therapists rated all examined therapeutic interventions as more typical for in‐person than for remote psychotherapy. For patients, three therapeutic interventions (psychodynamic, process‐experiential, cognitive interventions) were more typical for in‐person than for remote psychotherapy after correcting for multiple testing. For two therapeutic interventions (behavioural, dialectical‐behavioural), differences between the four therapeutic orientations were more consistent for in‐person than for remote psychotherapy. Conclusions Therapeutic interventions differed between in‐person and remote psychotherapy and differences between therapeutic orientations in behavioural‐oriented interventions become indistinct in remote psychotherapy.

Provision of Psychotherapy One Year after the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria

“…Consistent with our previous study, psychotherapists rated psychotherapy via the internet more comparably to in-person psychotherapy than to psychotherapy via telephone [4]. However, previous research has revealed that remote sessions are experienced as being more superficial than inperson sessions [21] and specific therapeutic interventions have also been rated to be more typical in in-person settings as compared to remote settings by therapists [10]. Thus, aspects other than the three investigated variables likely contributed to the increased utilization of in-person psychotherapy compared to psychotherapy via the internet.…”

“…Differences were observed between therapeutic orientations [4]. Another study conducted during the summer of 2020 showed that therapists perceived several therapeutic interventions to be less typical for remote as compared to in-person treatment; however, patients did not experience such large differences in therapeutic interventions between in-person and remote treatment [10]. To gather further information about differences in the therapeutic process between in-person and remote settings, RQ 2 of the current study aimed to investigate potential differences in the ratings of three important psychotherapeutic process variables (ability to actively listen to patients, ability to understand what is going on in the patients and ability to support patients emotionally) concerning three COVID-19 related psychotherapy formats: in-person with facemask, telephone and internet.…”

“…Among the 133 participating patients, 96% experienced changes from in-person to remote psychotherapy and 66% experienced changes from remote to in-person psychotherapy. The 217 participating psychotherapists changed from in-person to remote psychotherapy with, on average, 11.2 (standard deviation (SD) = 10.1) patients and from remote psychotherapy to in-person psychotherapy with, on average, 9.62 (SD = 10.3) patients [10]. However, whether the strong changes in treatment format toward remote psychotherapy observed in Austria at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic were maintained one year after the beginning of the pandemic has not been assessed in detail so far.…”

Psychotherapie auf Distanz in Österreich während COVID‑19. Zusammenfassung der bisher publizierten Ergebnisse von drei Onlinebefragungen

“…Die Analysen der Angaben zu den angewandten Interventionen in den Psychotherapie-Sitzungen zeigen, dass Psychotherapeut*innen und Patient*innen beim Wechsel des Behandlungsformats einen Unterschied hinsichtlich der angewandten therapeutischen Interventionen erlebten (Probst et al 2021). So bewerteten die Psychotherapeut*innen alle untersuchten therapeutischen Interventionen als typischer für die Therapie im direkten persönlichen Kontakt als für die Psychotherapie auf Distanz (p < 0,001).…”

“…So wurden die acht abgefragten therapeutischen Interventionen bei Therapie in direkter persönlicher Anwesenheit als typsicher erlebt als bei Therapie auf Distanz. Diese Unterschiede wurden vor allem aus Sicht der Therapeut*innen und weniger deutlich aus Sicht der Patient*innen angegeben (Probst et al 2021). Mögliche Gründe könnten originalarbeit sein, dass die therapeutischen Interventionen nicht entsprechend aus der Ferne durchgeführt werden können bzw.…”