Mental health counsellors' perceptions on use of technology in counselling

摘要

The objectives of the study were: (a) to explore the self-reported knowledge of counsellors about technology in counselling. (b) to understand the flexibility, usage, and openness to integrating the technology services in their practice, and (c) to identify the problems associated with using technology as a process in counselling. Semi-structured interviews of eleven practising counsellors in Bangalore and Chennai, India, recruited through snowball sampling, were used for data collection. The deductive content analysis of the interview transcripts generated seven concepts, each comprising of several categories. The seven concepts were 'attitude', 'strengths', 'weakness', 'suitability', 'skills and training', 'therapeutic alliance', and 'theoretical approaches'. The analysis revealed that the counsellors preferred face-to-face counselling and were not using technology for their mainstream practice, but all were quite aware of the process, the benefits and costs of using different forms of technology. The study revealed that the counsellors were also aware about the target population and mental health issues for online counselling. This study has strong implications for building additional skills and enhancing training for counsellors to use technology in their counselling practice, along with the formulation of legal and ethical policies, certification and licensing, in order to protect both the clients and counsellors.