Online counseling: An exploratory survey of Italian psychologists' attitudes towards new ways of interaction

Abstract

Objective: Online counseling may be defined as an interaction between users and mental health professionals that takes place through computer mediated communication technology. This study aimed to investigate the attitudes of Italian psychologists towards different aspects of online counseling provided via email, chat, forums, and videoconference.

Method: An online questionnaire was administered to a sample of 289 licensed psychologists in the Veneto Region (Italy) in order to collect opinions, preferences, and intentions to use online modalities, along with prior knowledge and practice experiences.

Results: Only 18.3% of the respondents had previous experience with online counseling. Overall, the majority of psychologists (62.6%) were favorable towards online counseling, but they also had several reservations about the provision of online diagnosis and therapeutic interventions. Results showed a consistent lack of clarity regarding ethical and penal issues concerning online modalities.

Conclusions: More efforts must be directed to deepening the application of new technologies in the field of psychology in order to enable an ethical and professional practice of online counseling in Italy.

Keywords: Internet-based intervention; attitude; e-health; online counseling; telemental health; telepsychology.