Provision of Telepsychological Care Via Email during COVID–19 ConfinementAn Exploratory Study

  1. Miguel-Álvaro, Alejandro
  2. Estupiñá Puig, Francisco J.
  3. Larroy, Cristina
Revista:
The Spanish Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 1138-7416

Año de publicación: 2024

Número: 27

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: DOI: 10.1017/SJP.2024.11 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Resumen

Within teletherapy, email interventions have been studied scarcely. For this reason, this exploratory study aims to characterize the assistance provided by email in a university telepsychology service and to compare the data with the assistance provided by telephone in the same service and period. For this purpose, the records of 81 users assisted via email during the COVID–19 pandemic lockdown in Spain were analyzed. The data were compared with those of the 338 users assisted by telephone in the same period. Despite its many limitations, results indicate high satisfaction with the email modality. Users express that they prefer a preference for using email when they do not feel safe in other ways. We found a lot of variation between the number of emails exchanged and the days that each case was active. Additionally, differences were found with telephone users in aspects such as age (email users being younger) and in a depression screening (email users scoring more positively). This study concludes on the high potential of this channel for the application of certain techniques (e.g., psychoeducation) or for people with certain characteristics.

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