Incorporating internet-based interventions into couple therapy: Available resources and recommended uses

Abstract

Although there are a number of highly efficacious in-person treatments designed to ameliorate relationship distress, only a small proportion of distressed couples seek out in-person treatment. Recently developed internet-based interventions based on these in-person treatments are a promising way to circumvent common barriers to in-person treatment and give more distressed couples access to these efficacious interventions. The overarching aims of this review are to provide couple and family therapists with a broad overview of the available internet-based interventions and provide suggestions about how these interventions might be utilized before, during, or after in-person treatment. The majority of the review centres on internet-based interventions for distressed couples and covers four distinct types of resources: relationship advice websites; assessment/feedback interventions; enrichment interventions for satisfied couples; and interventions targeting at-risk or distressed couples. Included is a case study of one couple's journey through a newly developed intervention targeting at-risk couples, OurRelationship.com. Internet-based interventions targeting individual psychopathology (e.g. anxiety and depression) are also reviewed. These interventions would be particularly useful as an adjunctive resource for in-person couple or family therapy when referrals for a concurrent in-person individual therapist are not feasible (because of time, financial, or geographic constraints). We close with three appendices: two appendices with information on currently available internet-based interventions; and one appendix with recommendations on how to incorporate these resources into in-person therapy.