Dissertation Defence: The Therapist’s Dual Reality: An Investigation into the Impact of Videoconferencing Psychotherapy (VCP) on Therapists’ Perceptions of Their Clinical Abilities

Ian Wellspring, supervised by Dr. Michael Woodworth, will defend their dissertation titled “The Therapist’s Dual Reality: An Investigation into the Impact of Videoconferencing Psychotherapy (VCP) on Therapists’ Perceptions of Their Clinical Abilities” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology – Clinical Psychology.

An abstract for Ian Wellspring’s dissertation is included below.

Examinations are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person exams.

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ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced an increase in Videoconferencing Psychotherapy (VCP) to deliver psychological services (Shore et al., 2020). However, there has been minimal research that has investigated whether therapists’ clinical skills in Face-to-Face (FtF) therapy transfer to VCP. There has also been ongoing consideration regarding clients’ comfort in disclosing information across communication mediums, with mixed prior research. Further, there has been minimal research considering the prevalence and reasons why clients may provide untruthful information in therapy, and therapists’ credibility assessment ability, particularly in VCP. This research aimed to consider whether, and in what potential ways, therapists’ clinical competencies are impacted by conducting therapy across different communication mediums. The perceived advantages and disadvantages of mental health applications were also considered. Study one garnered information about graduate student clinicians’ and clients’ experiences (i.e., clinical skills, comfort disclosing information) following either a FtF or VCP therapy session. Study two collected information about registered psychologists’ experiences and perceptions of their clinical competencies across communication mediums. Participants in study two were also asked to gauge the credibility of a mock VCP client. A mixed-methods survey approach was adopted. Thematic analyses revealed that psychologists perceived clients’ individual differences as being more important for disclosing information in therapy as compared to the communication medium. For example, they believed general levels of openness about one’s personal history played more of a role in disclosure, as compared to the communication medium. Across graduate student clinicians and registered psychologists, therapists reported feeling generally competent in VCP but endorsed not feeling as competent in phone therapy. Registered psychologists were found to experience significantly higher levels of boredom, inattentiveness, and drowsiness in VCP as compared to FtF therapy. Lastly, registered psychologists’ ability to detect deceit in a mock VCP session was 46.75%. This was not significantly different from chance or the deception detection accuracy of 54% found in most prior literature, which is likely reflective of a Truth Bias in most clinical settings. The present results have various implications, particularly in identifying competency areas for therapists to consider when providing mental health services across communication mediums.