Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Winter, Stefanie
• Jesser, Andrea
• Probst, Thomas
• Schaffler, Yvonne
• Kisler, Ida-Maria
• Haid, Barbara
• Pieh, Christoph
• Humer, Elke

Titel

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affects the Provision of Psychotherapy: Results from Three Online Surveys on Austrian Psychotherapists

Ist Teil von

• International journal of environmental research and public health, 2023-01, Vol.20 (3), p.1961

Ort / Verlag

Switzerland: MDPI AG

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This study aimed to assess patient numbers and the format in which psychotherapy was delivered by Austrian psychotherapists during different time points of the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore psychotherapists` experiences on pandemic-associated changes in their psychotherapeutic work as well as their wishes for support in their professional activities. Three cross-sectional online surveys were conducted between March 2020 and May 2022. The total number of participating psychotherapists was = 1547 in 2020, = 238 in 2021, and = 510 in 2022. The number of patients treated was highest in 2022 and lowest at the beginning of the pandemic ( < 0.001). During the lockdown in 2020, only 25.0% of patients were treated in personal contact. This proportion increased in the following years, reaching 86.9% in 2022 ( < 0.001). After a substantial increase in the proportion of patients treated via the telephone and internet during the first lockdown, both proportions decreased during the pandemics' second and third year ( < 0.001). However, a larger proportion of patients were treated via the internet in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic times ( < 0.001). Psychotherapists reported that the pandemic affected mainly the setting in which psychotherapy was provided (29.6%), the working conditions and workload (27.1%), as well as the demand for psychotherapy (26.9%). About one-third of psychotherapists expressed support wishes for their psychotherapeutic work. Results suggest that the pandemic went along with a partial shift in the provision of psychotherapy towards psychotherapy via the internet but not the telephone. The increase in patient numbers and psychotherapists` reports of increased workload suggest a rise in the demand for mental health care during and in the aftermath of the pandemic.