Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify clients’ perceptions of online counselling for mental health challenges during and beyond a global pandemic. This qualitative exploratory study involved thematic analysis of posts made on the open forum Reddit for counselling clients to share their experiences with counselling services. Posts selected for analysis focused on users’ challenges and successes navigating and obtaining online counselling services when in-person services were limited. A total of 650 paragraphs by 198 unique users were analyzed by 5 coders. Themes that emerged included issues of quality of care, features of therapeutic relationships when conducted online, and benefits of online counselling.
Presenters
Maureen DrysdaleProfessor, Psychology and Adjunct in Public Health Sciences, St. Jerome's University/University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Sarah Callaghan
Student, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus: Digitizing Health and Wellbeing
KEYWORDS
Online Counselling, Social Media, Reddit, Qualitative
