Evaluation of the quality of collaboration between the client and the therapist in phobia treatments

[EN] A growing number of empirical studies evaluate the influence of Mental Health (MH) technology on the clinical effectiveness, the therapeutic relationship (i.e.; therapeutic alliance), and usability issues. However, to the authors' knowledge, no studies have yet been performed regarding the influence of technology on the therapeutic process in terms of collaboration. This study evaluates the quality of collaboration between the client and therapist in Augmented Reality Exposure Therapy (ARET) context and the traditional, In Vivo Exposure Therapy (IVET) context with the Therapeutic Collaborative Scale (TCS). Twenty participants received an intensive session of cognitive behavioral therapy in either a technology-mediated therapeutic context or in a traditional therapeutic context. The results indicate that both therapeutic conditions show high collaboration scores. However, the asymmetry of roles between the therapist and the client under both conditions were detected. Also, a greater level of distraction was observed for therapists in ARET, which affected the quality of the therapists' involvement in the therapeutic session. The implications of these results are discussed. © 2012 British Informatics Society Limited. All rights reserved.We would like to thank all the therapists (Juana Maria Breton Lopez, Maria Angeles Perez-Ara, and Antonio Riera) and the clients that participated in this study. We would also like to express special gratitude to Patricia Mesa Gresa for her valuable help. This study was funded by Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia Spain, Project Game Teen (TIN2010-20187) and partially by the following projects: Consolider-C (SEJ2006-14301/PSIC), "CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, an initiative of ISCIII" and the Excellence Research Program PROMETEO (Generalitat Valenciana. Conselleria de Educacion, 2008-157).Wrzesien, M.; Burkhardt, J.; Botella, C.; Alcañiz Raya, ML. (2012). Evaluation of the quality of collaboration between the client and the therapist in phobia treatments. Interacting with Computers. 24(6):461-471. doi:10.1016/j.intcom.2012.09.001S46147124