Families in Crisis: Considerations for the Use of Web-Based Treatment Models in Family Therapy

Psychological interventions have typically utilized the traditional face-to-face office visit with clients. Although this strategy has proven to be effective (Simpson, Bell, Knox, & Mitchell, 2005), an emerging trend is to offer alternative approaches to therapeutic interventions (Schmidt, 1998). The current study considers the merits and shortcomings of Web-based interventions via synchronous videoconferencing (SVC) with families of children with a traumatic brain injury. Recent research suggests that family therapy offered via SVC has the potential for the delivery of family-based therapy. When using SVC, client readiness to address issues coupled with patience with the imperfection of the technology proved to be important factors. Other factors included the diagnosis and readiness to address identified problems in the context of SVC.