AUTHOR=Lohmiller Jacqueline , Schäffeler Norbert , Zipfel Stephan , Stengel Andreas 

TITLE=Higher Acceptance of Videotelephonic Counseling Formats in Psychosomatic Medicine in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.747648

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.747648

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare system in general and psychosomatics in particular were forced to change counseling-specific services and break up established structures. At the beginning of 2020, phone as well as videotelephonic counseling options had to be quickly established.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> Patients (<italic>n</italic> = 278) of the department of psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy at the University Hospital Tübingen were asked to complete an <italic>ad hoc</italic> questionnaire to assess the acceptance of the counseling format following each counseling session (office, phone, video) in the period between July 2020 and February 2021.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Satisfaction and acceptance of the three counseling formats (office, phone, video) were rated (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B1">1</xref>–<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B6">6</xref>) on average as “good” to “very good” in the three subgroups (1.5 ± 0.9). Likewise, the “therapeutic relationship” scored high in all three subgroups in terms of establishing a strong therapeutic relationship (4.4 ± 1.5). “Hurdles” were rated as low and tolerable (1.8 ± 1.3). The global assessment of therapeutic contact was significantly better in the video group compared to phone and office consultation (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). Predictor analyses showed that there was an influence of age, but not gender, on the acceptance of digital counseling formats in the present sample [<italic>F</italic><sub>(1, 277)</sub> = 4.50, <italic>p</italic> = 0.04].</p><p><bold>Discussion &amp; Conclusion:</bold> Digital consultation formats were perceived by patients as promising addition to the classic face-to-face setting. Digital formats (phone, video) were not generally preferred to face-to-face counseling, but especially video counseling was accepted and perceived with great satisfaction and acceptance. Accordingly, the additional use of digital counseling formats, especially video-telephony, could be an opportunity to enrich the existing structures also after the pandemic.</p>