Is online psychotherapy effective?

1. Recently, Azy Barak and his colleagues at the University of Haifa (2008b) produced the first meta-analysis of effectiveness research in the field of psychotherapy online. A meta-analysis is a systematic method to integrate and assess the results of different studies in a particular field. Only studies that meet criteria for rigorousness of research methods are included and their results are combined statistically so that more powerful conclusions can be drawn that could be from any of the studies individually. Barak and his colleagues reviewed 92 studies which examined Internet-based psychotherapeutic interventions involving a total of 9,764 clients. These clients represent the full gamut of client groups in terms of age, 7 gender, race and language. The authors concluded that “internet-based therapy on the average is as effective or nearly as effective as face-to-face therapy” (p. 147).
   On-line-psychotherapy-MetaAnalysisInterventionsBarak
2. British Journal of Social Work entitled, “Client Satisfaction and Outcome Comparisons of Online and Face-to-Face Counseling Methods” by Murphy and Parnass, et al (2009) found no significant difference in GAF scores between assessment and closing for those receiving face-to-face services and those receiving online counselling. GAF is a scale which subjectively rates the social, occupational, and psychological functioning of adults, e.g., how well or adaptively one is meeting various problems-in-living.
3. Psychiatric interviews conducted by telepsychiatry appear to be generally reliable, and patients and clinicians generally report high levels of satisfaction with telepsychiatry (Fruech, 2000).
4. No significant difference between online psychotherapy and face-to-face psychotherapy was elicited with control interviews in respect to patients’ diagnosis, age and sex (Dongier).
5. Face-to-face intervention can be successfully adapted to the Web for families with varied computer experience. Findings done by Wade at al. (2006) suggest that a computer-based intervention may successfully be used to improve both parent and child outcomes following TBI in children (traumatic brain injury). Both the Web site and video conferencing were rated as very helpful. All families demonstrated improved outcomes on one or more target behaviours, including increased understanding of the injury and improved parent-child relationships. All parents and siblings and all but 1 child with TBI said they would recommend the program to others.

References

• Barak, A., Hen, L., Meyran, B. and Na’ama, S. (2008). “A Comprehensive Review and a Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Internet-Based Psychotherapeutic Interventions.” Journal of Technology in Human Services, Vol. 26 (2/4), 109 – 160.
• Dongier, M.; Templer, R., Lalinec-Michaud, M., Meuneir, D. “Telepsychiatry: Psychiatric consultation through two-way television: A controlled study.”. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 31: 32-34
• Frueh BC, Deitsch SE, Santos AB, et al. (2000) Procedural and methodological issues in telepsychiatry research and program development. Psychiatric Services, 51:1522–1527.
• Murphy, L. M., Parnass, P., Hallett, R. H., & Mitchell, D. L. (in press). Client satisfaction and outcome comparisons of online and
  in-person counselling methods. British Journal of Social Work.
• Wade, Shari L.; Carey, Joanne; Wolfe, Christopher R. An online family intervention to reduce parental distress following pediatric brain injury. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 74(3), Jun 2006