Technological adjuncts to enhance current psychotherapy practices: A review

Although there are several of reviews of technology in psychology, none to date has focused on technological adjuncts for improving traditional face to face therapy. However, examination of response, adherence, and dropout rates suggests there is considerable scope for improving traditional face to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical psychology review 2011-04, Vol.31 (3), p.279-292
Main Authors: Clough, Bonnie A., Casey, Leanne M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biofeedback
Cell Phone
Cellular phone
Computers, Handheld
Humans
Mobile phone
Personal digital assistants
Psychotherapy - instrumentation
Psychotherapy - methods
Technology
Telemedicine - instrumentation
Telemedicine - methods
User-Computer Interface
Virtual reality
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although there are several of reviews of technology in psychology, none to date has focused on technological adjuncts for improving traditional face to face therapy. However, examination of response, adherence, and dropout rates suggests there is considerable scope for improving traditional face to face services. The purpose of this paper was to examine technological adjuncts used to enhance psychotherapy practice. This review focused only on those technologies designed to supplement or enhance traditional therapy methods. Adjuncts designed to reduce direct therapist contact or change the medium of communication were not included. Adjuncts reviewed were mobile phones, personal digital assistants, biofeedback and virtual reality. Limitations in the current literature and directions for future research were identified and discussed. This review provides a comprehensive examination of the way in which adjunctive technologies may be incorporated into face to face therapy. ► Use of technological adjuncts may enhance face to face psychotherapy. ► Adjuncts include mobile phones, PDAs, virtual reality and biofeedback. ► Adjuncts have been used in treatment, aftercare and for clinical data collection. ► Adjuncts must be implemented and evaluated carefully.
ISSN:0272-7358
1873-7811
DOI:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.12.008