Italian adolescents' perception of tele-psychodrama treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND
Psychodrama is an experiential group psychotherapy that is used to enhance adolescents' wellbeing. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the adaptation of this method to an online setting.


OBJECTIVE
This qualitative study investigated whether and how tele-psychodrama provides psychological support to adolescents, in order to better understand its strengths and weaknesses.


PARTICIPANTS
14 adolescents from Northern and Central Italy.


METHOD
14 interviews were conducted at the end of group tele-psychodrama treatment and were analysed with qualitative thematic analysis.


RESULTS
Three themes were identified: (1) contribution of tele-psychodrama to adolescents' well-being; (2) implementation of psychodrama to the online setting; and (3) (the) shortcomings of tele-psychodrama.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the differences between online and in-person psychodrama, all the participants expressed their appreciation of group tele-psychodrama, which contributed to their overall psychological wellbeing and helped them process difficulties that emerged during the lockdowns.