Online Data Collection for Psychotherapy Process Research

A preliminary investigation addressed the feasibility of using a specially designed online database to collect psychotherapy session impact and therapist-client alliance data and compared these online measures to published results of their paper-and-pencil counterparts. Participants drawn from a psychology department clinic, a student counseling center, and community agencies visited an online site to report on each of their sessions. Some clients and therapists visited the online database on a regular basis; however, client recruitment and participation was problematic. Equivalence between the online and paper-and-pencil forms was supported, with minor qualifications, by comparable distributions of participant responses on the measures' scales. More direct contact with clients might increase their participation.