Self-Assessment

Oftentimes, there are barriers to providing telepsychology services appropriately that occur among trainees/clinicians and clients/patients. Typical barriers as described by Felker (2020) include:

Provider-level barriers 

• • • Lack of training/exposure to telepsychology
    • Isolation from peers/colleagues that leads to fewer informal consultations and low morale
    • Safety/ Apprehension about telepsychology due to possible crisis situations

Patient-level barriers 

• • • Therapeutic alliance
    • Patient age and unfamiliarity with technology

Trainees should take numerous steps prior to engaging in telehealth/telepsychology care. One of the firsts is assessing self-competence to engage in telepsychology in the following areas (Martin et al., 2020):

• • • Intellectual competence
    • Technical competence
    • Emotional Competence
    • Cultural competence
    • Clinical competence

Trainees should have access to training and supervision before practicing or researching with telepsychology.The TPSYC 101 platform was developed to supplement a comprehensive telepsychology training program. Reading articles, discussing case studies, role-playing, and supervision are all instrumental to developing competent practice skills. Once your knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) improve in this area, competency assessments are also encouraged when determining if telepsychology is appropriate for your individual clients (Martin et al., 2020). 

KSAs are not the only factors contributing to successful telepsychology practice. There is significant importance of space. Several modules within the TPSYC 101 site will review procedures for how to set up your space; refer to those for more details. Consider with telepsychology sessions, your clients are only seeing a limited part of your space, which will be the background behind you during the telehealth sessions. It is important to set up a background that is coherent and not too distracting. In general, be thoughtful about your décor selection and arrangement, then consider how that background looks on-screen, before the first session. For tips on how to set up your space for telehealth sessions, click HERE.

Finally, your client has responsibilities for ensuring successful service provision. Telepsychology may not work for everyone and it is not a one-size-fits-all approach to services. Consider these steps when determining appropriateness:

1. 1. 1. Inquire if the client has the capability to make the decided method of contact happen  
      2. Do they have a data plan that allows this communication to happen weekly?  
      3. Do they have capabilities to download apps? Receive and upload documentation using your chosen technology platform or application? 
      4. Do they have a private space to have these meetings?  
      5. Do they have access to a stable internet connection? 
      6. Do they have a device that will work with your telehealth platform?

Resources