The measures to contain the coronavirus have also affected the work of psychotherapists, who were forced to switch to online psychotherapy. The aim of our research was to explore how psychotherapists experienced this form of work. Study involved 113 Slovenian psychotherapists who were providing psychotherapy online at the time of coronavirus epidemic. They completed an online survey which, in addition to demographic questions, included questions related to psychotherapeutic activity, open-ended questions about the experience of this form of work, a scale of concerns about coronavirus and aspects of online psychotherapy, and two instruments - the Therapeutic Presence Questionnaire and the Perceived Stress Scale. The qualitative part of the study was analysed according to the principles of grounded analysis. Psychotherapists reported a range of client resistance behaviour to online psychotherapy in the form of disengaged behaviour and experiencing unpleasant emotions, concerns about privacy and technology, and difficulties in the psychotherapeutic process. The main cited advantages of online psychotherapy were easier organisation, cost-effectiveness, accessibility, continuity, safety, and convenience, facilitated communication and a more favourable course of psychotherapy. The main disadvantages of this form of work are technology challenges, missing information, weakened contact with a client, altered psychotherapeutic process and a lack of safe environment. The quantitative part of the study reports the strongest link between experiencing stress and caring for finances as well as links between worry about adjusting psychotherapeutic process in the online environment along with therapeutic presence and absence. We also found that therapeutic presence was higher in individuals who had previous experiences with online psychotherapy before coronavirus epidemic. And, lastly, we found that psychotherapists have a better opinion on online psychotherapy once they practiced it themselves. The field of online psychotherapy is under-researched in Slovenia, and it is important that this topic is further explored. We hope that our findings are helpful to all psychotherapists who choose to practice online psychotherapy.
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