Measuring therapists' attitudes toward integration of technology in psychotherapy and predicting their use of technology

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to develop a measure of psychotherapists' attitudes toward integrating technology in psychotherapy-The Therapists' Attitudes toward using Modern Technologies in Psychotherapy and Counselling Scale (MTPS), to analyze its latent structure and test its reliability and validity. METHOD: Items were developed based on interviews with psychotherapists, followed by two online surveys with psychotherapists (N1 = 219; N2 = 369) in five countries in South-eastern Europe. RESULTS: The MTPS has a 4-factor structure: perceived potential of modern technologies (MTs) to augment therapeutic improvement, perceived psychoeducational value of MTs, perceived risks associated with using MTs, and perceived relevance of MTs. Specific dimensions of the MTPS predicted psychotherapists' behaviors and intentions regarding technology (Rc = 0.15-0.46). The reliability of the MTPS subscales was satisfactory. CONCLUSION: MTPS appears to be a useful instrument. Exploring psychotherapists' attitudes assists in predicting obstacles to the implementation of technology in psychotherapy and planning adequate intervention to overcome it.