The therapeutic alliance in internet interventions: A narrative review and suggestions for future research

Objectives: Research on Internet interventions has grown rapidly over the recent years and evidence is growing that Internet-based treatments often result in similar outcomes as conventional face-to-face psychotherapy. Yet there are still unanswered concerns such as whether a therapeutic alliance ca...

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Published in:Psychotherapy research Vol. 27; no. 5; pp. 511 - 524
Main Author: Berger, Thomas
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Routledge 03.09.2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
aliança de trabalho
alleanza di lavoro
Alliances
Allianz
computador
computer
Computer mediated communication
Email
Humans
Internet
Internet intervention
Internet-based treatment
internetbasierte Behandlung
internetbasierte Intervention
Intervention
intervento su Internet
intervenção na Internet
Narratives
Professional-Patient Relations
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy - methods
relazione terapeutica
relação terapêutica
Self help
Therapeutic alliances
therapeutic relationship
therapeutische Beziehung
Therapist patient relationships
Therapists
tratamento baseado na internet
trattamento su Internet
Treatment methods
Video conferencing
working alliance
以網路為主的治療
工作聯盟
治療關係
網路介入
電腦
computer
Internet-based treatment
therapeutic relationship
working alliance
Internet intervention
ISSN:1050-3307, 1468-4381, 1468-4381
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Objectives: Research on Internet interventions has grown rapidly over the recent years and evidence is growing that Internet-based treatments often result in similar outcomes as conventional face-to-face psychotherapy. Yet there are still unanswered concerns such as whether a therapeutic alliance can be established over the Internet and whether the alliance is important in this new treatment format. Methods: A narrative review of studies formally assessing the therapeutic alliance in Internet interventions was conducted. It is the first review summarizing findings on the therapeutic alliance that (i) distinguishes between different forms of Internet interventions and (ii) does not restrict itself to specific Internet-based treatment formats such as guided self-help treatments, e-mail or videoconferencing therapies. Results: Independent of communication modalities, diagnostic groups and amount of contact between clients and therapists, client-rated alliance scores were high, roughly equivalent to alliance ratings found in studies on face-to-face therapy. Mixed results were found regarding the therapist-rated alliance and alliance-outcome associations. Conclusions: The review points to the limitations of the available evidence and identifies unanswered questions. It is concluded that one of the major tasks for future research is to identify unique characteristics of the therapeutic alliance in the different treatment formats.
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ISSN:1050-3307
1468-4381
1468-4381
DOI:10.1080/10503307.2015.1119908