If You Give a Therapist a Network: A Qualitative Analysis of Therapists' Reactions to their Patients’ EMA-Based Network Models

Background: Network models hold much promise for use in the form of personalized feedback, which the TheraNet Project aims to investigate. In the present study, we share therapists’ first reactions to patient network models. Methods: Therapists (N = 24) were taught to interpret the network models based on their patient’s data. They were provided with concrete use suggestions at the end of the workshop. The workshops were analyzed using descriptive qualitative content analysis. The resulting codes were then grouped thematically. Results: Themes included “case conceptualization”, “study design”, “therapy planning”, and “psychoeducation”. Before the concrete suggestions, therapists most frequently mentioned codes belonging to “case conceptualization”. After the suggestions, “psychoeducation” codes were mentioned most frequently. Conclusions: Therapists intuitively connected network models to case conceptualizations. Once concrete suggestions were provided, therapists more frequently discussed networks as psychoeducative tools.