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Quaderni di Psicoterapia Cognitiva - Open Access

Clinical cases

No. 53 (2023)

The transition to online psychotherapy during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: Variables associated with satisfaction of patients. The case of the Santagostino Medical Center

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/qpc53-2023oa16934
Submitted
dicembre 6, 2023
Published
2023-12-28

Abstract

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), the traditional psychotherapeutic setting had evolved to integrate video-conference psychotherapy. Since then, video-conference
therapy (VT) has had a progressive diffusion and has become an alternative or integrable psychotherapy modality. The present study aimed to investigate patients’ satisfaction with the transition to VT, and the impact of prior and current attitudes/experiences with video-conference psychotherapy. An online survey was e-mailed to all patients treated at the Psychology, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry service of the Santagostino Medical Center between March and June 2020. The analysis of the distribution of responses in the sample (n = 111) and a multiple regression model were conducted to evaluate the effect of each variable on the degree of satisfaction.
Problems related to the use of video-communication software and suitable location for VT predicted dissatisfaction with VT. A sense of increased spontaneity towards the therapist and the perceived impact on the way to communicate during VT experiences correlated positively and negatively respectively with satisfaction with VT. For a better VT experience, several setting-related variables should be considered.

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