“What Next?”: Toward telebehavioral health sustainability in couple and family therapy

Hertlein, Katherine M.; Drude, Kenneth P.; Jordan, Sara Smock

doi:10.1111/jmft.12510

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 51 publications

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“…Studies have reiterated these challenges, including the possibility of therapist exhaustion [ 30 ], moral distress [ 31 ], split alliances [ 18 ], and lack of training and competencies in teletherapy [ 8 ]. Moving forward, competency-based training [ 19 ] and best practices for telemental health must attend to the unique challenges of working with couples and families [ 27 ] along with ways in which therapists can be better supported [ 32 ]. Further research is also needed to better differentiate therapists’ experiences with telehealth in general from their unique experiences of teletherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 18 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuation of Teletherapy After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Study of Licensed Mental Health Professionals

Gangamma¹,

Walia²,

Luke³

et al. 2022

JMIR Form Res

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Background The use of teletherapy has exponentially increased in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Studies on teletherapy documented substantial benefits of accessibility and convenience even before the start of the pandemic. Although recent studies show that this modality of therapy delivery is here to stay, few have studied who will most benefit from this trend. Objective In this paper, we report predictors of continued teletherapy usage in a sample of licensed mental health professionals in the United States during a time period when pandemic-related restrictions began diminishing. As such, it is one of the first studies to examine factors related to continued benefits of teletherapy postpandemic. Methods Participation from licensed mental health professionals was sought on listservs of national organizations of multiple mental health organizations. Data were collected via an anonymous link to a survey on Qualtrics between January 2021 and April 2021. Participants responded to questions on therapist demographics, practice setting, experiences of shifting to teletherapy, perspectives on continued use of teletherapy, and their client characteristics. Findings related to client characteristics that predicted continued teletherapy usage are presented here. Results A total of 186 individuals consented to participate in the survey, with a final sample of 114 with complete data. A majority of participants identified as female (92/114, 80.7%), White (94/114, 82.5%), and having a master's degree (75/114, 65.5%) from a nationally accredited program (106/114, 93%). Data were analyzed using heteroskedastic regression modeling with client-related factors as predictors. Two models were run with and without distance travelled by clients as a control variable. Model estimates from both models showed that continued use of teletherapy postpandemic was predicted by the following factors: higher percentage of clients from rural areas, younger and older adult clients, clients with Medicare, and clients with marginalized gender and religious/spiritual identities. Significantly, having a higher percentage of clients from lower socioeconomic status, a higher percentage of those with Medicaid coverage, and a higher percentage of couples and families as clients predicted decreased use of teletherapy postpandemic. Conclusions Findings from the study suggest that while some groups of clients are more likely to continue to receive benefits of teletherapy, vulnerable groups such as those in lower socioeconomic conditions, Medicaid beneficiaries, and those who seek couple and family therapy may be less likely to be served by it. These differences point to a need to address factors driving telehealth care disparities such as access to technology, housing, and childcare issues, as well as the need for continued training for licensed professionals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuation of Teletherapy After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Study of Licensed Mental Health Professionals

Gangamma¹,

Walia²,

Luke³

et al. 2022

JMIR Form Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Implementation of Telemental Health in Brazil: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Study

Barbosa,

Springer,

Scheeren

et al. 2024

International Journal of Systemic Therapy

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Continuation of Teletherapy After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Study of Licensed Mental Health Professionals (Preprint)

Gangamma¹,

Walia²,

Luke³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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BACKGROUND The use of teletherapy has exponentially increased in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Studies on teletherapy have documented substantial benefits of accessibility and convenience even before the start of the pandemic. While recent studies show that this modality of therapy delivery is here to stay few, if any, have studied who will most benefit from this trend. OBJECTIVE In this short paper, we report predictors of continued teletherapy usage in a sample of licensed mental health professionals in the United States during a time period when pandemic-related restrictions began diminishing. As such it is one of the first studies to examine factors related to continued benefits of teletherapy post-pandemic. METHODS Participation from licensed mental health professionals was sought on listservs of national organizations of multiple mental health organizations. Data were collected via an anonymous link to a survey on Qualtrics between January 2021 to April 2021. Participants responded to questions on therapist demographics, practice setting, experiences of shifting to teletherapy, perspectives on continued use of teletherapy, and their client characteristics. Findings related to client characteristics that predicted continued teletherapy usage are presented here. RESULTS A total of 186 consented to participate in the survey, with a final sample of 114 with complete data. A majority of participants identified as female (92/114, 80.7%), White (94/114, 82.5 %), having a master's degree (75/114, 65.5%) from a nationally accredited program (106/114, 93%). Data were analyzed using heteroskedastic regression modeling with client related factors as predictors. Two models were run with and without distance travelled by clients as a control variable. Model estimates from both models showed that continued use of teletherapy post-pandemic were predicted by the following factors: higher percentage of clients from rural areas, younger and elderly clients, clients with Medicare, and clients with marginalized gender and religious/spiritual identities. Significantly, having a higher percentage of clients from lower socioeconomic status, those with Medicaid coverage, and a higher percentage of couple and families as clients predicted decreased use of teletherapy post-pandemic. CONCLUSIONS Findings from the study suggest that while some groups of clients are more likely to continue to receive benefits of teletherapy, vulnerable groups such as those in lower socioeconomic conditions, Medicaid beneficiaries, and those who seek couple and family therapy may be less likely to be served by it. These differences point to a need to address factors driving telehealth care disparities such as access to technology, housing, and childcare issues, as well as need for continued training licensed professionals.

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“What Next?”: Toward telebehavioral health sustainability in couple and family therapy

Cited by 3 publications

References 51 publications

Continuation of Teletherapy After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Study of Licensed Mental Health Professionals

Continuation of Teletherapy After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Study of Licensed Mental Health Professionals

Implementation of Telemental Health in Brazil: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Study

Continuation of Teletherapy After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Study of Licensed Mental Health Professionals (Preprint)

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