A therapeutic alliance can exist without face-to-face contact

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Telehealth

Background:

• The therapeutic alliance is crucial for treatment success in pediatric psychosocial interventions.
• Remote delivery methods for child mental health services are increasingly important.
• The role of non-professional coaches in delivering these interventions requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the strength of the therapeutic alliance formed between parents and non-professional telephone coaches.
• To determine if a strong alliance can be established in a remote coaching context.
• To compare alliance scores with existing data from face-to-face interventions.

Main Methods:

• Examined the therapeutic alliance using the Working Alliance Inventory in 64 parents.
• Parents completed treatment within the "Family Help" study, a paediatric psychosocial and behavioural intervention.
• Data were analyzed considering various demographic and clinical factors.

Main Results:

• The mean total Working Alliance Inventory score was high (242.7).
• Alliance scores remained strong across diverse parent demographics, child disorder types, and treatment delivery modalities.
• Distance therapeutic alliance scores were comparable to those reported for face-to-face interactions.

Conclusions:

• A strong, positive therapeutic alliance can be effectively established without face-to-face contact.
• Non-professional telephone coaches are capable of fostering robust therapeutic relationships.
• Telephone-based coaching presents a viable modality for psychosocial interventions in paediatrics.