Videoconferencing psychotherapy for couples and families: A systematic review

Abstract

The delivery of videoconferencing psychotherapy (VCP) has been found to be an efficacious, acceptable and feasible treatment modality for individual therapy. However, less is known about the use of VCP for couple and family therapy (CFT). The focus of this systematic review was to examine the efficacy, feasibility and acceptability of using VCP as a treatment delivery modality for CFT. A systematic search was conducted, data relating to efficacy, feasibility and acceptability were extracted from included studies. The search returned 7,112 abstracts, with 37 papers (0.005%) included. The methods of the review were pre‐registered (PROSPERO; CRD42018106137). VCP for CFT was demonstrated to be feasible and acceptable. A meta‐analysis was not conducted; however, results from the included studies indicate that VCP is an efficacious delivery method for CFT. Recommendations for future research and implications regarding clinical practice are made, which may be of interest to practitioners given the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Alliance Between Therapist and Multi-stressed Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effect of Family-Based Videoconferencing

“…Reviews and meta-analyses focusing primarily on individual therapy with adult populations suggest that VC can achieve comparable outcomes as standard F2F psychotherapy (Backhaus et al, 2012 ; Norwood et al, 2018 ). A recent meta-analysis regarding VC for therapy with families and couples reports similar findings, suggesting that VC is feasible, acceptable and effective with couples and families (De Boer et al, 2021 ). Most studies in this study, however, focused on couples or families with young children.…”

“…Replication is needed before we can draw any conclusions. So far, VC with high-risk populations has been understudied (De Boer et al, 2021 ). The current findings are of high clinical relevance as they urge us to further investigate the potential importance of F2F therapy to achieve engagement, motivation and alliance with these families.…”

“…Most studies in this study, however, focused on couples or families with young children. Few studies involved families with adolescents, especially families with high risks such as family violence (De Boer et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Multiwave studies on adults have shown that the development of alliance is comparable in VC and F2F therapy (Germain et al, 2010 ; Watts et al, 2020 ). The few studies focusing specifically on family-based interventions using VC report strong alliances (De Boer et al, 2021 ; Sibley et al, 2017 ) even if clients are initially skeptical about whether VC will be effective (Kysely et al, 2020 ). Only one study compared the family-based VC intervention to a F2F alternative.…”

Der Einsatz von Sprach- und Videotelefonie in der Psychotherapie als Chance und Herausforderung: Eine Querschnitterhebung zu zwei Erhebungszeitpunkten

“…Auch die systemische Strömung ist in den Studien nur wenig vertreten; es wurde zwar kürzlich ein systematischer Review zur Video-Psychotherapie mit Paaren und Familien veröffentlicht (de Boer et al. 2021 ), die überwiegende Zahl der dort vorgestellten Studien basiert allerdings auf kognitiv-behavioralen Ansätzen (Cognitive Behavioral Therapies, CBT). In den tiefenspychologischen Strömungen findet sich hingegen eine intensivere inhaltliche Auseinandersetzung, beispielsweise zu Fragen der Übertragungsbeziehung, allerdings auch nur wenige empirische Studien (z.…”