Reduced therapeutic skill in teletherapy versus in-person therapy: The role of non-verbal communication

ObjectivesTherapists have experienced unique challenges and reported reduced competency when delivering teletherapy compared with in-person therapy. This study aimed to examine the association between therapists' non-verbal communication abilities and perceived skills in teletherapy. MethodsUsing a geographically diverse sample of 323 therapists, we assessed therapists' perceived skills in teletherapy and in-person therapy and calculated the relative skills by subtracting one rating from the other. We performed multivariate regressions to explore whether and how therapists' non-verbal communication abilities (i.e., emotion recognition ability, non-verbal emotional expressiveness and affective communication) were associated with their perceived skills in teletherapy and in-person therapy as well as the relative skills in teletherapy versus in-person therapy. ResultsNon-verbal emotional expressiveness and affective communication were positively associated with therapists' perceived skills in teletherapy. Therapists with stronger non-verbal emotional expressiveness perceived their skills as relatively less reduced in teletherapy versus in-person therapy compared to those with poorer non-verbal emotional expressiveness. ConclusionMore research and training are needed to address the unique challenges in teletherapy, particularly around the ability to express emotions and facilitate non-verbal communication.