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How Do Therapists from Different Countries and with Different Therapeutic Orientations Feel About Using Technologies in Their Work?

Modern technologies (MTs) are increasingly being used in psychotherapy and with promising results, helping to reach more and more clients in need. Since therapists are included in developing and disseminating such treatments and incorporating MTs in their practice in a form of blended care, their views on this topic become essential. Traditional cultural practice, which may differ in different geographical regions as well as in different therapeutic orientations, can affect the acceptability of MTs. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to explore whether therapists of different therapeutic orientations and working in different countries in the Balkans differ in respect with their attitudes toward the use of MTs in psychotherapy. The second aim was to explore whether therapists’ attitudes predict their usage of MTs and their interest in education on how to use MTS in treatment. To assess therapists attitudes we used Therapist Attitudes toward using MTs in Psychotherapy and Counseling Scale (MTPS) (Jokic-Begic & Bagaric, 2018) with 4 subscales: MTs can improve psychotherapy, MTs are useful in psychoeducation, caution is needed when using MTs in psychotherapy and MTs are redundant in psychotherapy. MTPS was administered via on- line survey. A total of 361 therapists or trainees form Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Serbia participated. Therapists were predominantly female (89%), with mean age of 39.58 (SD=9.13) years. Most of them provided CBT, gestalt or systemic family therapy in a private practice or health care system, with 64% having used MTs in their work. We first preformed CFA using maximum likelihood with robust standard errors due to non-normal data. A 4-factor model provided a good fit for the data (χ2(98)= 219.59, p<.01 ; CFI=.94 ; RMSEA=.06 ; SRMR=.072). Most of the therapists believed that MTs are useful for psychoeducation. MANOVA revealed that therapists differ in their attitudes toward MTs in respect with their therapeutic orientation and county in which they live. CBT, gestalt and family therapists equally agreed that caution is necessary when using MTs in psychotherapy. However, CBT therapists generally had a more positive attitudes toward MTs, whereas gestalt therapist more strongly believed that MTs are redundant in psychotherapy. Similarly, therapists form different countries equally agreed that caution is necessary when using MTs in psychotherapy. However, therapists form Croatia and Slovenia, compared to those form Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, more strongly believed that MTs can improve psychotherapy and that MTs are useful in psychoeducation. MTPS subscales predicted therapists’ usage and their interest in receiving education on how to use MTs in psychotherapy. In conclusion, therapists working in different countries and using different treatment approaches differ in their attitudes toward using MTs in psychotherapy. These attitudes predict their usage of MTs in psychotherapy and their interest in education on this topic. Generalization of results is limited due to self-selection bias. Another limitation is the uneven representation of therapists with therapeutic orientations by country.

modern technologies in psychotherapy, therapists’ attitudes, on-line therapy, blended-care

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