Eichenberg Christiane, Herzberg Philipp Y
Department of Psychology, Sigmund Freud University, Vienna, Austria.
J Med Internet Res. 2016 Jan 5;18(1):e3. doi: 10.2196/jmir.4306.
The increasing use of the Internet and its array of social networks brings new ways for psychotherapists to find out information about their patients, often referred to as patient-targeted googling (PTG). However, this topic has been subject to little empirical research; there has been hardly any attention given to it in Germany and the rest of Europe and it has not been included in ethical guidelines for psychotherapy despite the complex ethical issues it raises.
This study explored German psychotherapists' behavior and experiences related to PTG, investigated how these vary with sociodemographic factors and therapeutic background, and explored the circumstances in which psychotherapists considered PTG to be appropriate or not.
A total of 207 psychotherapists responded to a newly developed questionnaire that assessed their experience of and views on PTG. The study sample was a nonrepresentative convenience sample recruited online via several German-speaking professional therapy platforms.
Most therapists (84.5%, 174/207) stated that they had not actively considered the topic of PTG. However, 39.6% (82/207) said that they had already looked for patient information online (eg, when they suspected a patient may have been lying) and 39.3% (81/207) knew colleagues or supervisors who had done so. Only 2.4% (5/207) of therapists had come across PTG during their education and training.
It is essential to provide PTG as a part of therapists' education and training. Furthermore, the complex problems concerning PTG should be introduced into codes of ethics to provide explicit guidance for psychotherapists in practice. This report provides initial suggestions to open up debate on this topic.
互联网及其众多社交网络的使用日益增加，为心理治疗师提供了新的途径来获取有关患者的信息，这通常被称为针对患者的谷歌搜索（PTG）。然而，这个话题几乎没有实证研究；在德国和欧洲其他地区，它几乎没有受到关注，尽管它引发了复杂的伦理问题，但它并未被纳入心理治疗的伦理准则。
本研究探讨了德国心理治疗师与PTG相关的行为和经历，调查了这些行为和经历如何因社会人口统计学因素和治疗背景而有所不同，并探讨了心理治疗师认为PTG合适或不合适的情况。
共有207名心理治疗师对一份新开发的问卷做出了回应，该问卷评估了他们对PTG的经历和看法。研究样本是通过几个德语专业治疗平台在线招募的非代表性便利样本。
大多数治疗师（84.5%，174/207）表示他们没有积极考虑过PTG这个话题。然而，39.6%（82/207）的人说他们已经在网上查找过患者信息（例如，当他们怀疑患者可能在说谎时），39.3%（81/207）的人知道有同事或督导这样做过。只有2.4%（5/207）的治疗师在他们的教育和培训过程中遇到过PTG。
将PTG作为治疗师教育和培训的一部分至关重要。此外，应将与PTG相关的复杂问题引入伦理准则，为心理治疗师在实践中提供明确指导。本报告提供了初步建议，以开启关于这个话题的辩论。
