Are perceptions of the psychotherapist affected by the audiovisual quality of a teletherapy session?

Objective: Remote forms of psychotherapy became more common during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the importance of understanding how technological factors might affect remote treatment. Past research on other modes of communication suggests that perceptions can be influenced when the audiovisual quality of online communication is distorted. The aim of the current research was to examine the potential influence of visual or audio distortions during online therapy.

Method: 263 participants judged the interpersonal characteristics and skill of a psychotherapist after viewing segments of treatment sessions in either a video or audio-only format and where the presentation was either clear or distorted.

Results: Contrary to expectations, participants who viewed a poorer quality version of a therapy segment perceived the therapist to have more positive interpersonal characteristics than those who saw a segment of higher quality. There was no reliable difference in perception of the therapist's skill as a function of segment quality.

Conclusion: The findings from the study suggest that perceptions of a therapist are not adversely affected if the video or audio quality of a remote therapy session is less than ideal. Therefore, these technical aspects of online treatment may not need to be a top concern.