Objective: Recently, Mitchell et al. (Behav Res Ther, 46, 581-592, 2008) conducted a randomized controlled trial of an empirically supported treatment for bulimia nervosa (BN) delivered face-to-face (FTF-CBT) or via telemedicine (TV-CBT). Results suggested that the TV-CBT and FTF-CBT were generally equivalent in effectiveness. The objective of the current study was to examine ratings of therapeutic alliance factors in TV-CBT and FTF-CBT.
Method: Data obtained from 116 adults who met criteria for BN or eating disorder-not otherwise specified with binge eating or purging weekly and six doctoral-level psychologists who delivered the therapy were used in the analyses.
Results: Therapists generally endorsed greater differences between the treatment delivery methods than patients. Patients tended to make significantly higher ratings of therapeutic factors than therapists.
Discussion: TV-CBT is an acceptable method for the delivery of BN treatment compared to FTF-CBT, and TV-CBT is more easily accepted as a treatment delivery method by patients than therapists.
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