Construing our dimension: professionals’ narratives and experiences of presence in online psychotherapy

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed new challenges to clinical practice for professionals. The present study aimed to explore their direct experiences with online interventions, trying to identify and understand the implications, aiming to implement resources and tools to address the critical issues of e-interventions in psychological care. Methods: An online survey created by researchers was disseminated in Italy between February and July 2021 and completed by 368 psychologists and psychotherapists. Descriptive analyses were performed with Jamovi and thematic analysis with Atlas.ti9. Findings: Results pointed out that 62% of the participants had never used online interventions before the pandemic; many disruptions were identified, such as software and hardware disruptions (77.1%) and little confidence with online interventions (45.3%). For 93.6% of professionals, it is essential to feel presence during the online session, which helps emotional attunement, acceptance and active listening. The open-ended questions' qualitative analyses revealed that the most important aspects of presence while practicing online are: construing a third space, redefining the therapeutic setting, strategies to feel present and emotional resonance. Professionals reported the need to reconstruct ways to create and maintain a satisfying therapeutic relationship online. Discussion: The pandemic allowed a great thrust forward in online interventions while pointing out many disruptions that need to be adequately addressed to guarantee its use in the future. It is important to investigate strategies to create therapeutic relationships in the online setting, fostering the construction of new ways to be present online.