The Effect of Attitudes Toward Online Therapy and the Difficulties Perceived in Online Therapeutic Presence

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in every aspect of life. Online therapy creates both difficulties and learning opportunities for therapists. The literature shows that therapeutic presence is an important variable in efficacy and therapeutic change. Attitudes toward online therapy seem to impact the acceptance and adoption of telehealth interventions. The present cross-sectional study aims to understand whether attitudes toward online interventions and therapists' perceived difficulties in online therapy have an effect in therapeutic presence in a sample composed of psychologists and psychotherapists (N = 445). The data indicate that therapists' attitudes toward online interventions (beta = 31; p < .001) and therapists' perceived difficulties (beta = .49; p < .001) are both significant predictors. These data have practical implications. Enhancing online psychological service could be done by improving therapeutic presence. Finally, ameliorating therapeutic presence could be possible by doing interventions on the other 2 variables under study. Further research is needed on this topic, which appears to he gaining importance in view of the ongoing pandemic.