Psychologist treatment recommendations for Internet-based therapeutic interventions

A mailed survey was used to evaluate psychologists' endorsements of four Internet-based treatment modalities (e-mail, individual chat, group chat, and video conferencing) as either adjunctive or alternative forms of treatment. Participants were 138 psychologists recruited from a state psychological organization's membership directory. Participants provided endorsements for each Internet-based intervention based on a hypothetical case in which past treatment history was manipulated in a randomized design. Overall, psychologists provided low levels of endorsement of Internet-based services; however, significantly higher levels of endorsement were found for a case vignette that lacked any mention of past treatment history as compared to an otherwise identical case that mentioned previous treatment for major depression. Additionally, participants provided higher endorsements for e-mail applications than other modalities and cognitive-behaviorally-oriented practitioners more strongly endorsed the use of Internet-based interventions than psychoanalytically-oriented practitioners.

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