1. Outcomes in clients transitioning from in‐person counselling to telehealth counselling with trainees.
- Author
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Gerton, Jessica M., Aoyagi, Keiko, León, Gabriel A., Bludworth, James, Spille, Sean, and Holzapfel, Jenny
- Subjects
EVALUATION of medical care ,COUNSELING ,HOSPITAL medical staff ,SELF-evaluation ,MEDICAL care ,MENTAL depression ,UNIVERSITIES & colleges ,ANXIETY ,MEDICAL appointments ,TELEMEDICINE ,COVID-19 pandemic ,MENTAL health services ,LONGITUDINAL method - Abstract
The onset of the 2020 COVID‐19 pandemic necessitated a rapid transition of mental health services from in‐person to telehealth counselling. Despite the far‐reaching impact of this transition, we know little about the impact of this transition on outcomes for clients working with counsellor trainees. The present study utilised longitudinal data collected from a counselling training centre at a major U.S. university to compare client ratings of depression, anxiety and working alliance across 1) in‐person services delivered (i.e. pre‐pandemic) and 2) telehealth services delivered after the pandemic began (i.e. intra‐pandemic) among the same group of clients. Results support our hypothesis that changes in clients' self‐reports would be generally equivalent across in‐person and telehealth services. Depression and anxiety symptoms decreased, and working alliance tended to increase during both in‐person and telehealth care; however, these trends were only statistically significant during telehealth services. Limitations related to sample size (N = 15 clients; up to 17 sessions per client) and low statistical power are discussed. Nonetheless, this study supports the growing body of literature supporting the efficacy of telehealth counselling services. We provide suggestions for future telehealth research and discuss implications for counsellor training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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