The development of a self-report scale to assess therapists’ acceptance of telepsychotherapy.

Abstract

_Objective_

We aimed to develop a self-report measure of therapist acceptance of telepsychotherapy based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework.

_Methods_

Using a cross-sectional survey design, 1265 therapists completed the UTAUT-T, as well as additional questions.

_Results_

Confirmatory analysis indicated that the original UTAUT model did not fit the therapist context well. Exploratory factor analysis specified a better-fitting five-factor model, which showed good internal validity fit (χ2 = 17,753.36, RMSEA = 0.063, TLI = 0.886, SRMSR = 0.04). The five UTAUT-T subscales showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.86) and together predicted the intention to use online therapy in the future (R2 = 0.42, F(5, 1259) = 181.9, p < 0.001).

_Conclusion_

The 21-item UTAUT-T offers a promising self-report measure of therapist acceptance of telepsychotherapy and intention towards using it in the future. Future studies on the convergent and predictive validity of the UTAUT-T are warranted.