Psychology Training Courses Research Articles

Exploring the personal and professional impact of reflective practice groups: a survey of 18 cohorts from a UK clinical psychology training course

Given the importance of reflective practice within clinical psychology and a lack of empirical research, this study aimed to investigate the personal and professional impact of reflective practice groups (RPGs) for former trainees. This study followed an analytic survey design utilizing a convenience sample of qualified clinical psychologists from a UK training programme. A RPG questionnaire (RPGQ) was developed for the purposes of the study. Following initial pilot work, 297 qualified psychologists were invited to complete the RPGQ. One hundred and twenty-four psychologists (42%) completed the RPGQ. Factor analysis yielded two underlying constructs labelled 'value' and 'distress'. The RPGQ demonstrated significant internal and test-retest reliability. The majority rated the RPGs as valuable for personal and professional development and learning about group processes. Just under half however reported distress as a result of the groups. Whilst some trainees, who reported distress, were able to view the challenges positively, one-sixth were not. Potency of facilitation and group size significantly predicted levels of perceived value and distress. In view of the ethical issues raised by compulsory RPGs, recommendations were made to keep group sizes within an average of 10-13, utilize facilitators with sufficient training in group processes and ensure additional methods of reflective practice development are available. Further suggestions and recommendations for future research in relation to coping and personal learning style were also made.

Clinical health psychology training

The Bristol course has thus far been the only UK clinical psychology training course with a specific remit to teach clinical health psychology. In this paper we describe the background and rationale for this development and the way we have sought to teach this exciting young specialty.

Conversation with Martin Jarvis

Conversation with Martin Jarvis

Clinical Psychology and Diversity: Progress and Continuing Challenges

The diversity of the clinical psychology workforce is an important contributing factor in ensuring that clients are able to access services that can reflect their own particular culture and personal identities, and also to allow the possibility of choice surrounding diversity across therapists and psychologists. Unfortunately the make up of clinical psychology trainees frequently does not reflect the population demographics of the communities within which training courses are located or serve. This mismatch has been recognised for many years both within clinical psychology and other healthcare professions. Despite various attempts at promoting diversity and equality within the profession, there is a widespread recognition that insufficient progress has been made, and the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) in particular, promoted a series of projects looking at selection and widening access across professional psychology training courses, culminating in a Professional Practice Board (PPB) Report that was published in 2004. In addition, through initiatives supported by the Group of Trainers in Clinical Psychology, various research and other practical projects were established. The purpose of this paper is to review the PPB Report and associated projects and to informally assess their impact. Finally, there is recognition that not only should the workforce be representative but psychologists and therapists ought to be culturally aware and trained to work with difference despite their own particular identities as individuals and therapists. Accordingly, we will also review initiatives to promote cultural awareness and sensitivity within clinical psychology training.

Perceived Improvements in Service User Involvement in Two Clinical Psychology Training Courses

In line with current developments in mental health training, the doctoral courses in clinical psychology at two UK universities, Canterbury Christ Church and Surrey, have been working together to increase service user and carer involvement. A questionnaire was constructed and sent out at two time-points, one year apart, to examine staff and trainee ratings of service user and carer involvement, the friendliness of the course towards service user and carer experiences, and barriers and opportunities in relation to involvement. Initial validation work on the questionnaire is briefly presented, along with the final questionnaire subscales and items used. There were eight subscales, of which seven had reasonable internal consistency. Response rates from staff and trainee samples on each occasion ranged between 35% and 48%. The number of trainees responding to both surveys was 44, and staff 81. Ratings of service user and carer involvement improved significantly between the two time-points. However, there was no overall change in ratings of courses' friendliness towards service user and carer experiences, or of barriers and opportunities in relation to service user involvement. Trainees rated barriers to involvement lower than did staff at both times. The questionnaire may be useful for other courses in assessing staff and trainee perceptions of service user and carer involvement.

Shortlisting from the Clearing House Application Form: Is it Fit for Purpose?

Although many clinical psychology courses are now making use of validated selection tools, changes in selection processes are almost entirely focused on the post-shortlisting part of the process. The large numbers of applicants who regularly apply to get on courses has led to a traditional reliance on information supplied on the application forms used by the Clearing House (the organisation responsible for coordinating all applications to British clinical psychology training courses), including the academic and clinical references. Training courses tend to outline minimum entry requirements which are, typically, a 2(i) degree or better, a minimum of six to 12 months' relevant experience, graduate basis for registration with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and European Union citizenship. These minimum entry requirements enable a first phase screening process to take place. Following this phase a closer analysis of the application form takes place, with most courses assigning candidates scores along various criteria. These criteria are not always explicitly outlined by courses, but courses seem to try to quantify applicants in similar areas. For example, candidates can be rated on qualifications, motivation, realism, experience and references. However, the shortlisting process depends fundamentally on the belief that the information we collect via the application form predicts the best trainees. For example, previous clinical experience is rated highly and usually gains the applicants extra points. Similarly, further academic qualifications such as masters are also privileged. However, the question remains as to how shortlisting can be based on these assumptions when so little evidence exists. While the notion that a standard or baseline is probably important, where is the evidence that these sorts of experiences should be given added value? This article argues that evidence from occupational psychology and our own empirical research at Lancaster suggests the shortlisting component of our selection criteria needs a radical evaluation and overhaul to make it ft for purpose.

Learning to reflect: Trainees’ perceptions of case discussion groups during a clinical psychology training course

This research aimed to identify clinical psychology trainees’ perceptions of the impact of case discussion groups on their training and on the development of reflective practice. Ten trainees were interviewed and four themes extracted from the data.

South African Psychologists' Judgments of Widely Held Beliefs about Psychological Phenomena

Lay understandings of human cognition, affect, and behaviour often diverge from those informed by the findings of scientific investigations. In the present study I examined South African psychologists' judgments about the factual correctness of statements of psychological phenomena that have been demonstrated to be incorrect by empirical research. Forty-five psychologists responded to a mail survey and completed a questionnaire that required them to decide on the validity of a list of empirically untrue statements. The results show that a large proportion of psychologists indicated that they believed many incorrect statements to be probably or definitely true. These results are discussed with reference to the curricula of South African psychology training courses and the influence of popular culture on beliefs about human behaviour.

Sex and sexuality teaching in UK clinical psychology courses

This article reports on a survey of clinical psychology training courses that measured levels of training in sex and sexuality. Findings suggest there is inconsistent provision in terms of quantity and breadth of coverage.

Applying for doctorate in clinical psychology training courses: A roller-coaster of emotions

This article describes the reflections of two assistant psychologists on the turbulent journey for the Holy Grail that is a clinical psychology training place. Psychological literature and personal experiences provide a framework to understand challenges faced.

Getting on clinical psychology training courses: Responses to frequently asked questions (part 2)

New psychology graduates require a great deal of guidance associated with the career route into clinical psychology. I previously published several fact sheets to facilitate them in this (Papworth, 2004). Below are three further fact sheets which form a final addendum to this earlier article.

Clinical health psychology in clinical psychology training: A national survey

The new Faculty of Clinical Health Psychology has been considering the potential variation in exposure to the models and practices of clinical health psychology within clinical psychology training courses. This article reports results of a survey carried out across UK clinical psychology training programmes.

How Fool Is a "Holy Fool"?

How Fool Is a "Holy Fool"? Agneta Schreurs (bio) The editors asked me to write a short response to your commentaries. They asked me to do that as a set; therefore, I respond to your texts as a whole. First, I thank you for your comments. I appreciate very much that you took the time to read and reflect on my article. I am really very happy with your positive evaluation of my article, particularly because my choice for this subject has much to do with my own biography. I have been raised by nonreligious parents and grandparents. My mother being a classical scholar and my father a scientist, I knew more about antiquity and chemistry than about the Bible, which in fact did not figure at all in my education. However, when I was forty years old, I took on theology at the University of Utrecht as an extra study in my free time, mainly because I felt embarrassed whenever my students or clients brought the subject up and I did not know the first thing about it. Right from the beginning I became absolutely excited about this study, not only about the broad range of fascinating subjects, but also because quite a number churches had merged the academic part of their seminaries with the theological faculty of the University of Utrecht into an academically very high-standard curriculum. Students and teachers were a mix of Dutch Reformed, Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, Baptist, and several other denominations, in my time even a Jewish rabbi and a Winti (an indigenous religion in the former Dutch West Indies). Outsider as I was, this offered me a unique opportunity to become acquainted in a personal and natural way with their various faiths. Nevertheless, it took me three years before I realized what all those fascinating things had to do with my life and with my work! This realization was the reason why, after getting my master's degree in theology, I decided to choose a combination of philosophy of religion and psychology of religion for my doctoral dissertation and to change my group practice into work that explicitly dealt with the interconnections between spirituality and psychotherapy. I also want to thank you for sharing your thoughts on the larger contexts of my subject. From my biographical sketch, you can see that I agree with both of you in that it is high time that psychiatry and psychotherapy pay more attention to—and become more knowledgeable about—their religious patients' religion and spirituality. Not because I think the "talking cures" may have much in common with "faith healing" (in fact, I agree with Gibson [2000] that they have much more in common with the gentle craft of taking confession), but because it is unprofessional not to do so. When a person consults a priest or minister with regard to a religious problem, it often appears that there are also psychological problems involved. That is why theological curricula include pastoral psychology and clinical training courses. This is also true the other way round: psychological problems treated in psychotherapy and counseling may involve a patient's religious mindset. However [End Page 205] , most psychotherapists are generally neither religious themselves nor trained in assessing and understanding the great variety of ways in which people may be religious and how these may be intertwined with the problems for which they have sought therapeutic help. In particular, they are mostly not trained in discovering how their patients' religiousness may be a cause of therapeutic failure or, alternatively, a source of support and as such a help toward therapeutic progress. In addition to such lack in information and training, and in contrast with most clergy, clients in therapy may easily have very different religious backgrounds. As a result of this professional situation, many psychotherapists feel uncomfortable in this area and unprofessionally tend to ignore, avoid, or reinterpret in psychological terms their patients' spiritual expressions. The point I tried to make is this: to successfully discover and assess how a patients' religiousness may be a cause of psychological problems or conversely, be a source of support and as such a help toward therapeutic progress, you need at least some basic...

Book Prescriptions — A Strategy for Delivering Psychological Treatment in the Primary Care Setting

ost people who are treated for mental health problems receive their treatment from their GP. A quarter of all consultations in primary care have a significant mental health component and depression is now the third most common reason for consultation in UK general practice (Effective Health Care Bulletin, 2002). The fact that 90% of people treated for mental health problems are treated solely at the primary care level makes it crucial that a range of appropriate and effective treatments is available to patients in this setting. Traditionally, primary care-based treatment for depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive conditions, agoraphobia and other mild or moderate mental health problems has been exclusively pharmacological. Antidepressants and other types of psychotropic medication have benefited millions of patients and continue to be prescribed in large quantities. However, the past decade has seen a growing awareness of the desirability of providing additional psychological therapies in the primary care setting. The ‘talking therapies’, including counselling and various types of psychological intervention, are well established and there is now impressive evidence of their effectiveness for a range of the common emotional problems. In particular, there is very strong evidence for the effectiveness of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT), which helps people to examine and change the dysfunctional beliefs and thinking patterns that may underlie their anxiety or depression. Broadly, the evidence suggests that CBT based approaches are M at least as effective as drug therapy (NICE, 2004a; 2004b; 2004c). One advantage of cognitive therapy is that, because it has a strong educational component (teaching the patient positive thinking skills, perspective-taking, etc), it may not only ameliorate the present condition but may also prevent later relapse (Frude, 2004a). While patient surveys and government policy documents point to the need for primary care-based psychological treatment, drug treatment continues to predominate (although a recent expansion of primary care counselling provision is to be warmly welcomed). The continued pre-eminence of pharmacological treatment is easy to explain in terms of logistics. It is simply much easier, in practical terms, to provide pharmacological help by writing a prescription than to arrange for the delivery of psychological help. And whereas there is generally a waiting list for ‘the talking therapies’, the prescription of a drug – if not always the effects of a drug – can be immediate. Psychological therapies tend to be comparatively expensive and, as well as the financial constraints, there are also workforce constraints, with few suitably trained professionals available for employment. Thus it seems inevitable that the current low level of provision will persist for psychological treatments delivered by conventional means. After a career in academic psychology, during which I had long taught students about the highly effective cognitive behavioural methods, I moved to a post as research director of a clinical psychology training course. This also allowed me to practise as a clinician again after many years. Working within a community mental health team, it didn’t take me long

Factors predicting the short‐listing and selection of trainee clinical psychologists: a prospective national cohort study

AbstractConcerns have frequently been raised about equal opportunities in the short‐listing and selection procedures used by clinical psychology training courses, although little evidence exists. The aim of the study is to identify factors predicting short‐listing and selection to clinical psychology training courses. A prospective study of one national cohort of applicants to UK clinical psychology training (the 2000 entry cohort of 1538 applicants) was carried out. Application forms (n = 1538), references (n = 1538) and postal questionnaires (n = 396) were used to collect demographic, biographical, academic and work experience information. Relationships between these variables and short‐listing or selection to training were examined using univariate odds ratios and effect sizes, and multivariate logistic regressions. Factors most strongly predictive of short‐listing and selection were proxies for academic ability (post‐16 education at school, degree class, involvement in postgraduate education, authoring publications), relevant educational qualifications (a degree eligible for registration into the BPS), relevant vocational experience (a greater number and range of psychology assistant posts), and positive ratings from academic and clinical psychologist experience‐related referees. Short‐listing and selection to clinical psychology training relies on proxy factors related to academic ability, education, vocational experience and ratings from referees. There is little evidence of direct discrimination, although certain subgroups of applicants may be disadvantaged in their opportunities to gain relevant academic qualifications and vocational experience. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Trainee clinical psychologists' views on recruitment to work with older people

For some time in Britain, it has been difficult to recruit clinical psychologists and other health professionals to work with older people. This pattern of under-recruitment has also been reported in other countries. With the growing number of older people in western societies, the issue of under-recruitment warrants further attention. This research reported here aimed to explore this issue among the next generation of clinical psychologists: those currently training. Questionnaires were posted to 25 of the clinical psychology training courses in the United Kingdom, and 371 trainees returned questionnaires. Among the questions posed, the trainees were asked to set down their thoughts as to why it might be difficult to recruit to the older adult specialty and how recruitment could be improved. The results suggest that many trainees believe that clinical psychology, despite many recent advances, has less to offer older people than other age groups. The responses contain evidence of both ageism and the fear of ageing and death. To improve recruitment into the older adult specialty of clinical psychology, the predominant recommendations were for good quality placements and teaching during training, as well as a need for improved marketing by clinical psychologists working in this specialty, and also for improved support, terms and conditions.

Becoming a Community Clinical Psychologist: Integration of Community and Clinical Practices in Psychologists' Training

It has been recognised that South African clinical psychologists need to be trained in more community-oriented forms of practice. Training in this field however seems to involve particular difficulties for students who often struggle with disillusionment and feelings of incompetence that ultimately may in turn deter them from this important work. This article draws from the experience of a clinical psychology training course at the University of Cape Town. Firstly it describes the many sources of anxiety that may confront students in their initial exposure to community work and which might interfere with their capacity to learn. Students' adjustment to the inherent demands of this difficult work is often further hampered by an unproductive division between community work and more conventional forms of psychological practice. In the second part of the article we describe an approach to training which is designed to contain students' anxieties and increase their ability to manage and learn from their experience. This approach has three basic tenets: Firstly it stresses the need to provide students with a limited and carefully structured exposure to community work which matches their developing capacities; secondly it attempts to build bridges between the skills required in conventional psychological practice and those needed for community-oriented work and finally, it emphasises the need for on-going support for both students and their supervisors.

Professionalization and the Reduction of Uncertainty: A study of new entrants to educational psychology

The study focuses on the transition between undertaking training and becoming an independent practitioner, drawing on data from 53 educational psychologists (EPs) who completed their educational psychology (EP) training courses in 1995–6 and subsequently took up positions in local education authority (LEA) services. Experiences of induction are examined in relation to promoting competence at individual and service level in a context where both training issues and the professionalization of EP services are under close scrutiny and review. The paper concludes with some implications for the future interface between training institutions and EP Services, and the nature of the curriculum which will meet future training needs.

Developments in the establishment of professional health psychology training courses

Developments in the establishment of professional health psychology training courses

Accept LEACEPT A model for the future training of Educational Psychologists

André Imich,Susan Kerfoot,Jo LyonsandAllan Sigstonoutline a proposed framework for future training. And as an LEA Centred Educational Psychology Training (LEACEPT) course, they argue that it can meet the needs of LEAs and the profession into the next millennium whilst retaining the quality and breadth of training necessary to enter the profession.