Rolling with resistance: A client language analysis of deliberate practice in continuing education for psychotherapists

Abstract

AbstractContinuing education workshops have been criticised for focusing on knowledge rather than skill acquisition by a focus on didactic teaching methods. A recent randomised controlled trial conducted by Westra et al. (2020) demonstrated that a deliberate practice (DP) training workshop for responding to ambivalence and resistance resulted in longer‐lasting skill acquisition than the same workshop in a traditional, more didactic format. The present study examined whether this same DP workshop was also efficacious at the level of client motivational language in 4‐month post‐testing interviews used to assess trainee skill in the Westra et al. parent study. Sixty therapists from the community (30 = DP and 30 = traditional) conducted an interview with either an ambivalent simulator or an ambivalent community volunteer. Interviews were coded for interviewee motivational language using the Motivational Interviewing Skills Code (MISC 1.1; Glynn & Moyers, 2009). Counterchange talk (CCT) was further classified into either Ambivalent‐CCT (uttered to disclose conflict about change) or Resistant‐CCT (statements against change uttered to oppose the therapist). Results revealed a significant difference between training groups, with the DP group eliciting less Resistant‐CCT than the traditional training group. This study provides further support for the use of DP training for potentially creating more productive conversations by minimising Resistant‐CCT; a form of speech that has been found to be negatively associated with client outcomes.