The mediating role of professional experience in the predictive relationship between therapeutic alliance and self-efficacy beliefs in online and face-to-face psychotherapy

This study aims to examine the mediating role of professional experience on the predictive effect of the psychotherapist's counselling self-efficacy belief on the therapeutic alliance perceived by the psychotherapist in çevirimiçi and face-to-face psychotherapy. In line with the purpose of the study, it was determined to what extent professional experience mediated the predictive effect of counselling self-efficacy belief on the therapeutic alliance. The sample of the study consists of 107 psychologists between the ages of 18-65. Demographic Information Form, Therapeutic Alliance Scale Short Form-Therapist Form, and Psychological Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale were used as the measurement interval of the study. After the normality analysis of the data, intergroup t-test, paired observation t-test, Pearson Correlation Analysis and multivariate stepwise regression analysis were used. The structural model created to examine professional experience was examined by path analysis. As a result of the analyzes carried out, a statistically significant intergroup relationship was observed in face-to-face and çevirimiçi psychotherapy sessions in the sub-dimensions of the therapeutic alliance, in the sub-dimensions of bond and purpose, and in all sub-dimensions of PBLQ, except insight skills. A significant difference was observed in the PBLQ sub-dimensions between the groups according to the working time variable, and there was no difference between the groups in the PBL sub-dimensions. Within the scope of the model, a total of four (4) regression models were created in accordance with the research hypotheses. According to the mediation analysis outputs, it is seen that the effect of professional experience on WAI is statistically insignificant, and the indirect effect on the Therapeutic Alliance Scale via the Psychological Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale (PCSES) is statistically significant. It is seen that the indirect effect of professional experience on WAI through PBLQ in çevirimiçi psychotherapies is not statistically significant. The findings of the study were discussed within the framework of the relevant literature and the contributions of the research were stated. KEYWORDS: face-to-face psychotherapy, çevirimiçi psychotherapy, professional experience, mediating influence