Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
Fam Process. 2022 Mar;61(1):146-154. doi: 10.1111/famp.12647. Epub 2021 Apr 16.
The measures adopted by governments around the world to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus (e.g., social distancing) have propelled a rapid transition from face-to-face to online therapy. Studies on online individual therapy indicate that therapists often have favorable attitudes toward this modality. To date, there is scant work on couples therapists' attitudes, despite the fact that the provision of online couples' therapy poses unique challenges (e.g., dealing with escalating conflict remotely). To provide a snapshot, in real time, as to how therapists experience the transition to online therapy, we surveyed 166 Israeli couples' therapists during April 2020, when lockdown orders prevented therapists from seeing couples face-to-face. A few weeks later, when the stay-at-home policy was lifted, a subsample (N = 60) of these therapists completed a follow-up assessment. The results suggest that couples therapists had limited experience using the online modality prior to COVID. The therapists reported experiencing online couples' therapy as somewhat successful and that their experience of providing therapy during the COVID-19 crisis had an overall positive impact on their attitudes toward online work. Establishing a strong therapeutic bond with both partners, dealing with escalating conflict, and treatment dropout were identified as the issues of most concern when conducting online couples therapy. The perceived difficulties with online therapy prospectively predicted lower usage of online couples' therapy, as well as less intention to continue online treatment once the crisis is over.
世界各国政府为控制 COVID-19 病毒传播而采取的措施（例如，社交距离）促使治疗方式迅速从面对面转变为在线治疗。关于在线个体治疗的研究表明，治疗师通常对这种方式持积极态度。迄今为止，尽管提供在线夫妻治疗带来了独特的挑战（例如，远程处理不断升级的冲突），但关于夫妻治疗师态度的研究甚少。为了实时了解治疗师在向在线治疗过渡时的体验，我们在 2020 年 4 月对 166 名以色列夫妻治疗师进行了调查，当时封锁令阻止了治疗师与夫妻面对面见面。几周后，当居家令解除时，这些治疗师中的一个子样本（N=60）完成了后续评估。结果表明，夫妻治疗师在 COVID 之前使用在线模式的经验有限。治疗师报告说，在线夫妻治疗取得了一定的成功，并且他们在 COVID-19 危机期间提供治疗的经验对他们对在线工作的态度产生了整体积极的影响。与双方建立牢固的治疗关系、处理不断升级的冲突和治疗中断被认为是进行在线夫妻治疗时最关注的问题。在线治疗的感知困难前瞻性地预测了在线夫妻治疗的使用率较低，以及一旦危机结束，继续在线治疗的意愿较低。
