2022 Volume 31 Issue 3 Pages 148-158
Although the popularity of Videoconferencing Psychotherapy (VCP) is rapidly growing as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, research findings on the actual status of VCP use in Japan and on the factors predicting dropout from VCP are insufficient. Specifically, no research has been conducted on the early stages of VCP. In this study, we used VCP data (4,921 to 3,470 participants) from a private company to assess the actual status of VCP use. We then conducted a hierarchical logistic regression analysis to explore explanatory variables that predict dropout and continuation between the first and second sessions. The results indicated that therapists with longer clinical experience were more likely to continue the counseling sessions and clients were less likely to continue when they felt the effects of psychotherapy in the first evaluation session, and more likely to continue when they had expectations of psychotherapy being effective.
