The Acceptability and Potential Benefits of a Web-Based Psychoeducation Program for People with Pathological Dissociation: A Pilot Evaluation Study

ABSTRACT

Pathological dissociation is a common trauma-related condition and is associated with considerable health and social care needs. People with pathological dissociation typically require psychosocial interventions, but there are many challenges in providing such interventions for this vulnerable population. An important question that remains unexplored is whether web-based interventions are acceptable and beneficial for people with pathological dissociation. This paper reports the findings of a pilot evaluation study of a web-based psychoeducation program for people with pathological dissociation. A total of 80 participants were included. The preliminary findings revealed that: most participants were satisfied with the web-based program (e.g., most participants agreed that the program helped them understand [94.1%] and manage [66.7%] their mental health conditions and remain hopeful for recovery [78.4%]); and participants had improvements in symptom management (large effect; partial eta squared = .143) and self-esteem (medium-to-large effect; partial eta squared = .111) after the program. However, no improvements in clinical symptoms were observed on measures of post-traumatic or dissociative symptoms. The dropout rate at posttest was 36.3%. This is one of the first studies that evaluated web-based interventions for people with pathological dissociation. Although the web-based program is well-accepted by the participants and might be associated with some potential benefits, the limitations of this pilot study should be acknowledged. Implications are discussed in terms of the directions for future developments of the program and the needs for further evaluation.

KEYWORDS:

• Trauma
• dissociation
• web-based psychoeducation
• pilot study
• mental health

Acknowledgments

This article is based on the PhD project of the corresponding author. Authors agree to make data and materials supporting the results or analyses presented in their paper available upon reasonable request. It is up to the author to determine whether a request is reasonable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2022.2119457

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.