Experiences of online care

Overview

Online counselling services for a range of health issues have proliferated in recent years. Despite research indicating that online counselling services are popular and can increase access to professional support, little is known about experiences of providing and receiving care in an online counselling context.

This interdisciplinary program of research aims to explore these issues by conducting several projects focussed on Counselling Online - Australia’s national online alcohol and other drug counselling service:

  • Qualitative analyses of de-identified transcripts of online counselling sessions, focusing on various client groups including older people, young people, and family members who access Counselling Online.
  • Focus groups and interviews with clients and online counsellors.
  • Qualitative analyses of policy documents.
  • Quantitative analysis of service utilisation and client survey data.

Findings of the project are informing the development of training resources and guidelines to enhance the quality of online counselling services.

Project team

Turning Point team

Dr Michael Savic, Dr Anthony Barnett, Dr Ella Dilkes-Frayne, Ms Emma Sandral, Ms Nyssa Ferguson, Mr Ramez Bathish, Professor Victoria Manning, Dr Simone Rodda, and Professor Dan Lubman.

Project partners

Associate Professor Adrian Carter (Monash University), Dr Narelle Warren (Monash University), Dr Kiran Pienaar (Monash University), Professor Renata Kokanović (RMIT), Dr Samara Wilson (Monash University), and Dr Marie Yap (Monash University).

Our funders

Monash University Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Interdisciplinary Research Seed Funding Scheme.

Learn more about the project

Publications: