Cognitive Design

I get that question a lot.  The expanded version is can we use cognitive design to create an online experience that is as rich and meaningful as face-to-face interaction?  While there are a few exceptions, my general answer is yes.  And in some ways we can create something much better!

To make the case I am always on the look out for scientific studies that explore the issue, especially ones that look at cognitively-deep interactions. For example, a recent article in the Journal of Internet Medical Research examined how well we can create the mental health therapeutic experience online.   How well does e-therapy work compared to in person treatment? Here is what the researchers found:

 ”Although the results do not allow firm conclusions, they indicate that e-therapy seems to be at least equivalent to face-to-face therapy in terms of therapeutic alliance, and that there is a relationship between the therapeutic alliance and e-therapy outcome.”

This is based on a review of 849 studies of which only 11 dealt  with the therapeutic relationship.  Not a big sample so the authors are calling for more research.  No matter, this finding is surprising given the importance of non-verbal information in conducting mental health therapy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2012 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Related Fields, Service Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.