Telepsychotherapy in pandemic times

Abstract

The mental health of the population was impacted by the COVID-19, requiring the creation of care strategies, increasing the use of telepsychotherapy for instance. This article aims to analyze the adherence to the telepsychotherapy offered in the pandemic, considering the socio demographic profile of the patients inserted in the study, the participation through psychotherapy sessions and the fill out of the questionnaires available on the online. The study had a quantitative and descriptive character, whose sample included people over 18 years old and who lived in the regions of Vale do Rio Pardo and Vale do Taquari - RS, Brazil. Sociodemographic information was collected through questionnaires, which later generated a database, in which the frequency of participants in four telepsychotherapy sessions was also recorded. Data analysis was performed in Microsoft Office Excel and presented in a descriptive way. The data collection was from January to December 2021. The sample consisted of 153 individuals from 19 municipalities. The predominant profile found was 75.51% women (n=114), 71.9% adults aged 25-60 years (n=110), 69.28% residents of urban centers (n=110). The rate of adherence to telepsychotherapy was 91.5% in the fourth session (n=140). The results proved that telepsychotherapy is a powerful tool for the population that can't access public mental health due to overload in the system or for those who are unable to be attended in person.