| Abstract [eng] |
Online psychological counseling is a highly relevant but still under-researched field. Many factors can influence engagement in this process, the most important of which include the therapeutic alliance, personality traits, expectations, psychological problems, and the therapist’s hope. This study examined the factors influencing engagement in online psychological counseling. The study sample consisted of 83 clients of an online psychological counseling platform and 31 psychologists. The study used: Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2; Soto & John, 2017), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), Milwaukee Psychotherapy Expectancy Questionnaire (MPEQ-B; Normberg et al., 2011), Therapeutic Alliance Index (WAI; Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006), and Therapist Belief Scale (THCS); Bartholomew et al., 2020). Spearman‘s correlation and group comparison methods were used to obtain the results. The results revealed relationships between engagement in online psychological counseling and therapeutic alliance and therapist hope – with each session, the therapeutic alliance and hope as assessed by the psychologist were found to be increasingly closely related to the client’s decision to continue counseling. The study deepens our understanding of the factors influencing engagement in online counseling. The study’s limitations and possibilities for further research are discussed, as well as practical recommendations. |
