Table 2.
Descriptive overview of included studies.
| Publication | Country | Funding | Study group or data set | Diagnostic status of participants | Intervention type | Comparative method | Interactional variable(s) considered | Raters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antonioni (1973) | USA | Funding not specified (doctoral thesis) | University student volunteers (n = 20) University based counsellors (n = 10) |
No specified diagnosis | Counselling sessions of around 50 min | Experiment 10 face-to-face participants; 10 telephone participants. Each counsellor saw one patient in each mode |
|
Third party |
| Bassilios et al. (2014) | Australia | Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing | Recorded therapy sessions (n = 6607); 33% conducted by telephone | Diagnosis of depressive and/or anxiety disorder | 6–12 (or up to 18 in exceptional cases) of CBT | Observational. Analysis of service records data, comparing telephone and face-to-face sessions |
|
n/a |
| Brown (1985) | Canada | Some financial support provided by author's employing organisation, within which the research was conducted (doctoral thesis) | Case records of individuals using an Employee Assistance Programme (n = 456) Counsellors (n = 20) |
No specified diagnosis | Employee Assistance Programme. Type of counselling not further specified | Observational. Analysis of case records, comparing telephone and face-to-face sessions. |
|
Therapist |
| Daniel (1973) | USA | Funding not specified (doctoral thesis) | Undergraduate students (n = 41) | No specified diagnosis | One 30 min counselling session | Experiment 19 face-to-face participants, 22 telephone participants |
|
Third party |
| Day and Schneider (2002) | USA | Partially funded by a University of Illinois Graduate College Dissertation Grant (1998) and a University of Illinois Research Board Grant (1998) | Adults recruited from general population (n = 80) | No specified diagnosis | 5 sessions of CBT | Experiment 27 face-to-face participants, 26 video participants, 27 audio participants (plus wait list control) |
|
Third party |
| Dilley et al. (1971) | USA | Funding not specified | University students (n = 3) Counsellors (n = 15) |
No specified diagnosis | Counselling (not further specified) | Experiment 3 conditions: face-to-face, confessional style, telephone. Each participant took part in all three conditions |
|
Third party |
| Fann et al. (2015) | USA | Supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant R21HD53736) and the Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (grant H133G070016) | Adults within 10 years of complicated mild to severe traumatic brain injury (n = 100) | Diagnosis of major depressive disorder | 12-session brief cognitive behavioural therapy. Sessions of 30–60 min | Experiment. 40 telephone participants, 18 face-to-face participants, 42 usual care |
|
Patient |
| Hammond et al. (2012) | UK | Authors’ posts variously supported by the National Health Service, Department of Health and National Institute of Health Research | Adults referred to low-intensity mental health service (n = 294) | Diagnosis of mild to moderate depression and/or anxiety | 2 or more sessions of CBT | Observational. Analysis of service records data, comparison of propensity matched face-to-face vs. telephone patients. |
|
n/a |
| Himelhoch et al. (2013) | USA | Project supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R34- MH80630) | Urban-dwelling HIV-infected individuals (n = 34) | Diagnosis of major depressive disorder and scores of 12+ on PHQ-9 | 11-session manualised CBT intervention | Experiment. 18 face-to-face participants, 16 telephone participants (plus treatment as usual control) |
|
Patient |
| Hinrichsen and Zwibelman (1981) | USA | Funding not specified | Case records of students using university counselling service (n = 6178) | No specified diagnosis | Counselling (not further specified) | Observational. Analysis of service records data, comparison of face-to-face and telephone sessions |
|
n/a |
| Mulligan et al. (2014) | UK | National Institute for Health Research under its Programme Grants for Applied Research scheme (RP-PG-0606-1086) | Patient-therapist dyads (n = 21) | Diagnosis of non-affective psychosis (ICD-10) | Recovery-focused CBT | Observational (external) Study sample is of telephone participants only; findings are compared with those of previous studies that used a face-to-face sample |
|
Patient and therapist |
| Reese et al. (2002) | USA Canada Mexico | Funding not specified – but article based on doctoral thesis | Individuals using an Employee Assistance Programme (n = 186) |
No specified diagnosis | Employee Assistance Programme, therapists trained in Solution Focused Therapy | Observational (external) Study sample is of telephone participants only; findings are compared with those of previous studies that used a face-to-face sample |
|
Patient |
| Spizman (2001) | USA | Funding not specified (doctoral thesis) | University students (n = 31) | No specified diagnosis | Four 50-min sessions of counselling | Experiment 12 telephone participants, 12 face-to-face, 7 wait list control |
|
Patient and therapist |
| Stephenson et al. (2003) | USA | Funding not specified | Individuals using an Employee Assistance Programme (n = 21,000 +) | No specified diagnosis | Employee Assistance Programme (type of counselling not further specified) | Observational. Analysis of service records data, comparing telephone sessions with face-to-face sessions |
|
Patient |
| Stiles-Shields et al. (2014) | USA | Supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R01 MH059708 | Primary care patients (n = 325) (n therapists not specified) |
Diagnosis of major depressive disorder | 18 sessions of CBT | Experiment. Face-to-face and telephone session ratings compared, respectively 140 vs. 149 patient ratings; 138 vs. 153 therapist ratings |
|
Patient and therapist |