Regional and rural clients’ presenting concerns and experiences of care when engaging with an online substance use counseling service

Original research
by
Haylock, Patrick A.C. et al

Release Date

2022

Geography

Australia

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

No

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

No

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

This study explored: (1) the experiences of care of regional and rural clients of an Australian national online text-based substance use counseling service, Counselling Online; (2) their reasons for accessing the service; and (3) their interaction with the counselor.

Findings/Key points

Online substance use services provide useful support to regional and rural clients, however we identified several opportunities for improving the service experience for regional and rural clients. These include training online counselors on the unique experiences of regional and rural clients, adapting referrals to match client preferences, and encouraging counselors to ask about the physical location in which clients are using the service.

Design/methods

Transcripts from 31 counselling sessions

Keywords

Digital health
Rural/remote
Barriers and enablers
About PWUD