Client experiences of video-mediated counselling: a qualitative study

Aim or purpose
Both in the UK and globally, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way in which counselling and mental health services are offered and accelerated the trend towards flexible hybrid provision. While online counselling has long been recognised as a useful service for certain client groups, it is now provided routinely across all service types and client populations. However, and despite a growing post-2019 literature on practitioners’ experiences and perspectives, there is a lack of research on client perspectives on video-mediated therapy. The aim thus of this research was to explore clients’ perceptions and experiences of video-mediated counselling.

Design or methodology structure
This project involved TRaCCs members collaborating to conduct a large number of online interviews. Participants (up to 50) were recruited through the involved counselling centres/clinics and the The Open University participant pool. The interview covered the general experience of receiving counselling online via video- platform, as well as positive and negative instances in this context. Demographic information about participants was also sought to allow understanding of the study sample. For data analysis, a combination of Framework Analysis and Thematic Analysis was used to identify themes and sub-themes.

Ethical approval

The Open University Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC/4477) and ethic committees at each consortium partner institution.

Results or findings

The results from the analysis will be available in time for the conference. Preliminary findings show that participants provided detailed accounts in which they recognized both benefits and challenges of video-based counselling, as well other specific issues related to receiving counselling in an online environment.

Research limitations

The majority of participants identified as White British. The sample may not be representative of the broader population of counselling and psychotherapy clients who have experienced online counseling. The self-reported data from participants can be subject to recall bias or social desirability bias.

Conclusions or implications

Employing the TRaCCs research consortium made it possible to conduct a big (for qualitive research) number of interviews and collect a large set of anonymised interview transcripts. This provided the basis for a significant and insightful study on clients’ perceptions and experiences of video-mediated counselling. Challenges of this type of collaborative research are also discussed.

Considerations given to issues of equality, diversity and inclusion

In data collection and analysis, consideration was given to how intersectionality (interconnected nature of social categories) may have impacted the research process and findings. This can help in understanding the unique experiences of clients at the intersections of multiple identities.