Communication Barriers of Online Psychological Assistance Services

Over the past year and a half, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, more and more online services have gained popularity and became the norm for daily use – food delivery, streaming services, online training courses, as well as medical services. In addition to the emergence of a large number of platforms related to remote health care, online psychological assistance services have become more popular than ever. The spread and increase in demand for such product is due to the crisis situation in the country and the world, being in closed spaces, due to self-isolation and quarantine, as well as the general level of stress. Despite the abrupt mass transition to the daily use of online services, for many people, the presence of new technologies in every process of their daily routine remains unusual. Speaking of psychological counseling - the addition of an online aspect creates many communication barriers, both external and internal, that can prevent people who need help from contacting them. In this paper, an attempt was made to identify and analyze the causes of distrust in psychological care services and communication barriers. For a general analysis of the communication environment and feedback from Internet users, web ethnography was conducted, and to identify deep insights, focus groups were conducted with users who thought about using the services, as well as with those who had experience.