Improving Patient Mental Health With Psychotherapist Virtual Training
Improving Patient Mental Health With Psychotherapist Virtual Training: A Practice- Research Network Study
University of Ottawa
489 participants
Aug 2, 2023
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
Several types of psychotherapy are equally effective to treat mental disorders. However, many patients remain symptomatic after treatment. The investigators demonstrated that a professional development training program to improve psychotherapists' skills at identifying and repairing therapeutic alliance tensions resulted in improved therapeutic alliance (an important therapeutic ingredient) and patient mental health outcomes. However, the investigators delivered this training program by conventional in-person workshops which limited access by psychotherapists living outside large urban centres. Further, post-study interviews with therapists suggested that cultural/diversity factors complicated the therapeutic alliance. In the current study, the investigators will test the effectiveness and acceptability of a virtually-delivered training program to psychotherapists in North America to improve their capacity to identify and repair problems in the therapeutic alliance, including tensions related to patient diversity. The investigators will also examine how acceptable the virtually-delivered training is to psychotherapists and whether they would use such training in their practice. Participants in the study will be community-based licensed psychotherapists and their patients engaging in therapy in North America. Patient mental health outcomes, therapeutic alliance, and diversity issues will be assessed by comparing outcome measures between three groups: 1) therapists complete a self-paced virtual course + consultation, 2) therapists complete synchronous workshop + consultation, 3) control: therapists do not complete training. The team of investigators developed Canada's largest psychotherapy practice-research network and has expertise in clinical trials, diversity, and education research of virtual training. State of the art training is often out of the reach of therapists who live outside of urban centres, and the effectiveness and acceptability of providing training virtually is not well-studied in mental health care. This study will improve psychotherapists' effectiveness at managing the therapeutic alliance and issues related to diversity, and will improve patient mental health outcomes thus promising to reduce the burden of mental illness.
Eligibility
Exclusion Criteria2
- Therapist participants: The investigators will exclude therapists who are employed by an organization if the investigators cannot obtain organizational approval from their employer or coordinate data collection from an alternate virtual platform in instances where the employing organization does not permit the use of the study platform. Therapists will also be excluded if they have completed professional development workshop after 2017 with PPRNet.
- Patient participants: The investigators will exclude patients if they: (a) have a psychotic or neurocognitive disorder that may preclude engagement in psychotherapy, (b) are in concurrent psychological treatment with another practitioner, (c) are at high risk of suicide or suicidal behaviors as assessed by their therapist (e.g., suicide attempt or hospitalization for suicidal behaviors in the past 6 months), or (d) for whom the therapist judge that approaching them with information about the study will be harmful.
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Interventions
Therapists randomized to this condition will receive the professional development via an asynchronous virtual training course. The Virtual Training will include written material, videos, interactive learning activities, and a text-based discussion forum where therapists and faculty will be able to interact in relation to the given activities. Clinical scenario and simulation-based interactive learning will allow therapists to explore clinical situations, make decisions, and evaluate consequences of their actions in a safe environment. Therapists will complete 6 study-related therapy sessions with 3 new patients. After therapists receive the Virtual Training and after they enroll their first patient, therapists will attend bi-weekly 1-hour online consultation meetings that include up to 6 therapists at a time and led by two of the training faculty. Each therapist will attend 10 of these posttraining consultation sessions.
Therapists randomized to this condition will receive the professional development training via a 3-day synchronous workshop delivered via video conference covering the same didactic content as the virtual training course. The workshop will include lectures, written material, videos, and live role play activities. Therapists will complete 6 study-related sessions with 3 new patients. After therapists receive the professional development through Training as Usual and after they enroll their first patient, therapists will attend bi-weekly 1-hour online consultation meetings that include up to 6 therapists at a time and led by two of the training faculty. Each therapist will attend 10 of these posttraining consultation sessions.
Therapists randomized to this control condition will provide psychotherapy via the study video conference platform to 3 new enrolled patients in their typical manner except that they and their patients will also complete the assessments necessary for the study. After study completion, the investigators will provide therapists in the control condition with access to virtual training.
Locations(1)
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NCT07087730