The Pace of Change in Videoconferencing and Face-to-Face Adult Psychotherapy: A Longitudinal Study

The current study explores the pace of psychological change in face-to-face (F2F) and videoconferencing psychotherapy (VCP). It also aims to offer a methodological tool for studying it and to suggest some hypotheses that could explain the pace of change in F2F and VCP. Change in therapy was predicted to be non-linear and faster in F2F than in VCP.

Session-by-session records of two measures of change (as assessed by therapists and clients, respectively) were collected from 113 participants from F2F (n = 57) and VCP (n = 56), resulting in 2552 therapy sessions. A non-manipulative longitudinal design was proposed in which multilevel growth curve models were performed. Different models were specified to account for the trajectories followed on average by all cases as closely as possible.

The chosen models for therapists' ( χ² = 4.42, p < .05, r² = .54) and clients' ( χ² = 6.31, p < .05, r² = .53)data, showed large effect sizes. The results were significant and showed that change was not linear and was faster in F2F, as we had predicted.

Our results contribute to knowledge about psychological therapy provided through the internet. Several hypotheses are suggested to explain which processes may underlie those results.