24 research outputs found

    Empatia: efficacia e necessitĂ  di un training psicoterapeutico focalizzato

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    Questo elaborato si sviluppa a partire dalla domanda: è possibile incrementare l’empatia nei terapeuti? Nonostante l’empatia sia un elemento chiave in psicoterapia tra i programmi di formazione terapeutica manca un’attenzione specifica allo sviluppo e al potenziamento di questo costrutto. Dopo un’introduzione generale sull’argomento, in cui si è cercato di inquadrare l’empatia dando prima una definizione e poi sottolineandone l’importanza dal punto di vista neurologico, storico e il ruolo centrale in ambito psicoterapeutico, sono stati presentati tre studi che sostengono positivamente l’ipotesi di ricerca. In particolare, il primo studio dimostra l’utilità di una formazione empatica per le professioni sanitarie, il secondo riporta l’efficacia di un training terapeutico empatico, mentre l’ultimo studio mostra un esempio pratico di training empatico: il POTT. Le considerazioni fatte portano alla conclusione che una formazione terapeutica empatica è necessaria e utile, non solo per la buona riuscita terapeutica, ma anche per i benefici che ne possono trarre i terapeuti stessi e, di conseguenza, i loro pazienti

    Therapists' self-practice of CBT

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    This study investigated the prevalence of voluntary self-practice of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) by accredited CBT practitioners, and explored the ability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to predict intentions to engage in CBT self-practice. A TPB questionnaire was constructed by implementing the protocol devised by Francis et al. (2004), with content specific items generated from an elicitation exercise to obtain salient beliefs regarding CBT self-practice. A sample of 177 accredited CBT practitioners completed an online survey which included demographic items and the TPB questionnaire. It was found that 46.4% of participants intended to self-practice CBT more than once a week over the following month. While the TPB predicted intentions to self-practice CBT (R2 = .445, p < .001), structural equation modeling revealed that the theory of reasoned action (R2 = .473, p < .001) was the best model fit of the observed data (RMSEA = .00, CFI = 1.00). It was concluded that a substantial proportion of CBT practitioners intended to regularly engage in CBT self-practice, with intentions predicted by subjective normative beliefs and attitudes towards the behaviour. Implications are discussed, with calls for the study to be replicated. Potential future research is considered, with suggestions to explore the role of CBT self-practice to promote therapist wellbeing

    Awareness of the Use of Self in Therapy: An Autoethnographic Inquiry into the Training Experiences of a Black, Single, Female MFT Doctoral Student

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    The self of the therapist is an essential factor in the therapeutic process (Baldwin, 2000) and is impacted by intersections of identities and prejudicial treatment, which creates unjust conditions for Black women in society and academia. Nonmembers of the predominant culture can find difficulties in navigating the self of the therapist, which reflects personal and social experiences. In academia, the Black woman\u27s identity continues to face problems of exclusion and oppressive related situations, which can complicate the learning process (Ong, Wright, Espinosa, & Orfield, 2011). Several studies have explored the challenges ofAfrican-American students and faculty, in MFT graduate programs, who face cultural, racial, and recruitment issues (Wilson & Stith, 1993) as well as underrepresentation as professors (Harris-McKoy, Gutierrez, Strachan & Winley, 2017). The purpose of this study is to explore self complexities that impact individuality and professional development, as a therapist of color, and to understand the critical role of the use of self intherapy training settings. Writing an autoethnographic inquiry on my personal experiences while training as a Black, single, female MFT doctoral student address identity struggles, core issues, and theinterconnected nature of sociocultural factors that overlap with identities. This study is written from a feminist informed perspective, which recognizes unjust treatment of marginalized populations (Reinhart, 1992) and provides a way of writing that reflects my version of reality in society and academia, as a Black woman. The thematic analysis presents five categories and occurring themes that gives context to my lived experiences, personally and professionally, are embedded, shaped, and essentially defined

    The Impact of a Service-Learning Study Abroad Trip on Social Justice Advocacy in Counselors-in-Training: A Thematic Analysis

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    Though there has been extensive research into the benefits of using international cultural immersion experiences to enhance the development of multicultural competence of counselors in training, limited research has been conducted to specifically examine the effect of the service- learning component of a study abroad trip on students’ multicultural and social justice competencies. Given that social justice advocacy is an integral aspect of multicultural competence, it is important to understand how students assimilate the social justice advocacy experiences gained during their service-learning trip once they return home. To this end, a qualitative thematic analysis design was used to identify themes related to master’s-level counseling students’ experiences in-country and their return home from a 4-week study abroad cultural immersion trip. Interviews were conducted to answer the research question, which led to four sets of themes: in-country experiences, reentry experiences, multicultural and social justice competency, and impact over time. The emergent themes were consistent with previous research. The implications of these themes in the use of service-learning experiences on the training of counselors and recommendations for future research include the impact of in country experiences, impact of reentry, impact on multicultural and social justice competence, and impact over time

    White Clinicians’ Way of Being with Their Black Clients

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    Within the context of pervasive racial social inequality in mental healthcare (Lund, 2020), this dissertation sought to explore how white people who inherently hold racial bias according to critical whiteness theory (Olcon, Gilbert, & Pulliam, 2019), navigate this within their therapeutic work and relationships as clinicians with Black clients. Using the framework of clinician way of being, the conscious attitudes and beliefs that clinicians hold towards clients (Fife, Whiting, Bradford, & Davis, 2014), this phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews with key informants, practicing white clinicians (N=19). Content analysis of verbatim transcripts suggests that whiteness and conscious navigations of emotions and pre-judgements about race influenced clinicians’ ways of being, therapeutic relationships, and techniques with Black clients oriented on a continuum from ignoring to reckoning with race. Findings suggest further research on how whiteness is implicated in interracial clinical dyads and offer insights into white clinicians’ need to interrogate their own whiteness

    I wonder...? The Presence and Implications of Curiosity as a Foundational Ingredient Across Couple and Family Therapy Models

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    Theoretical and anecdotal accounts highlight the power of curiosity within the therapeutic process of particular models of therapy, with specific influences noted in regard to forming, maintaining, and evolving intra- and interpersonal relationships. The mention of curiosity in the therapeutic process is not surprising given its profound and evidence-based influence on the promotion of relationships and influence on social-emotional health and well-being. What is surprising however, is the lack of comprehensive review and exploration into how exactly curiosity is being conceptually used within and across therapeutic models. Additionally, such a review is missing in terms of whether curiosity is model dependent or is perhaps an integral piece of the larger therapeutic common factors’ movement. To address this aforementioned gap between curiosity and the therapeutic process, I (BTH) and my research team (T.B. and M.F.) reviewed 28 book length texts that encompassed seven different theoretical approaches to therapy. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was utilized, wherein quantitative data showed that the included language of curiosity was used 773 times between the 28 included texts. These 773 data points were then analyzed through a deductive qualitative process based on the sensitizing constructs of the therapeutic pyramid. Throughout this analysis, curiosity was most commonly coded as being a skill/technique, with additional coding of the therapeutic alliance and a way of being. The therapeutic pyramid was efficacious in describing the various functions of curiosity. However, upon further review and analysis, the research team\u27s conceptualization of curiosity was refined to two primary themes: connection and challenge. It is within each of these two headings where the value of curiosity lies across therapeutic modalities, as curiosity independently or simultaneously served as a conceptual tool for promoting connection and relationships while also functioning as an agent of challenge, growth, and change

    An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Humility in Counseling Scale

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    As clients’ needs grow in depth and complexity, it is imperative that counselor educators have a process for training counselors-in-training (CITs) to develop nuanced intrapersonal qualities and further prepare them for the challenges of the therapeutic relationship. Counseling skills are just one facet of clinical competence. Counselors-in-training must also develop their self-as-the therapist to gain competence in working with the client’s emotional turmoil, life stressors, intersectionality, unique perspectives, and autonomy (Aponte et al., 2009). The purposeful application of clinical humility could be a catalyst to both scaffold and deepen learning experiences to foster intra- and interpersonal development. The purpose of this study was to develop a scale that measures clinical humility. Previously developed scales which measure humility have not focused on the subdomain of clinical humility studied with counselors/CITs. The Humility in Counseling Scale (HICS) was designed to fill this gap in the research and provide a tool to embed clinical humility into counselor education and supervision (CES) training. A self-assessment measure of clinical humility could be an important tool to evaluate intrapersonal components which strengthen counselor clinical training. The survey was administered to 386 practicing counselors and CITs. Following analysis of the psychometric properties, the results revealed a one-factor solution with three underlying facets of humility (flexibility, self-awareness, and openness). The HICS as a unidimensional measure of humility holds promise to have scores which produce valid and reliable results. Future contributions to the field of CES include a variety of methods to implement the HICS into clinical training settings. Future implications for research include confirmatory factor analysis, comparative analysis, and qualitative studies

    What Works for Successful In-Home Family Therapists Working at Community-Based Agencies

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    Resiliency is an important characteristic of successful therapists (Aponte, 1991; Aponte & Carlsen, 2009; Aponte & Winter, 2000; Clark, 2009; Hamel & Laraway, 2004; Kuiper, 2012; Protinsky & Coward, 2001; Rosenburg & Pace, 2006; Wolgien & Coady, 1997), especially those in entry-level positions that tend to involve high stress and turnover (Acker, 2004; Clark, 2009; Davis, 2013; Greenson, Guo, Barth, Harley, & Sission, 2009; Grosch & Olsen, 1994; Gupta, Peterson, Lysaght, & Zweck, 2012; Horan, 2002; Maslach & Leiter, 1997; Negash & Sahin, 2011; Rosenburg &Pace, 2006; Skovolt &Trotter Mathison, 2011). This study explored the perspectives of six therapists providing in home services in community based agencies who succeeded and thrived in entry-level positions. The researcher inquired about how the therapists defined and maintained necessary resiliency. The participating therapists were recommended by their agency directors for their exemplary performance; they defined themselves as succeeding and thriving. The researcher used the qualitative research method of phenomenology (Kafle, 2011) to examine the participants’ lived experiences. The researcher derived five primary themes from the thematic analysis of the interviews: (1) In-home therapists should enjoy the freedom of their jobs; (2) In-home therapists should schedule their time creatively; (3) In-home therapists should understand the unique needs of their clientele; (4) In-home therapists should practice self-care; and (5) In-home therapists should vary their clientele. These themes represent methods by which the participants manage to become successful in-home therapists and prevent burnout

    Self-Care, Anticipated Stigma, and Personal Therapy in Mental Health Professional Trainees

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    Self-care has increasingly become encouraged as a means for maintaining well-being for mental health professionals; yet, there exists an unsettling lack of research and guidance on this topic for those within the field (Callan et al., 2021; Colman et al., 2016; Norcross & VandenBos, 2018). This has led to call for change and reform to recognize the importance of self-care as an ethical imperative and to incorporate it within the education and training of mental health professionals (Barnett et al., 2007; Barnett & Cooper, 2009; Wise & Reuman, 2019; Zahniser et al., 2017). These calls for reform and the increased importance of self-care have only grown given the realities of the strains included within the work that mental health professionals do and the increased stress placed on the field from the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic (El-Ghoroury et al., 2012; Posluns & Gall, 2020; Sciberras & Pilkington, 2018). Given the need for research on self-care and ways to implement it combined with the lack of prior research, the current research set out to contribute quantitative research on areas related to self-care for mental health professional trainees. The first purpose was to determine how much of the variation in the five factors of self-care was explained by anticipated stigma and attendance in personal therapy. The second purpose was to determine the contribution of both anticipated stigma and personal therapy separately on the variation within self-care. The third purpose was to determine if there was a difference in self-care between mental health professional trainee groups who had experienced personal therapy. In the current study, the Self-Care Assessment for Psychologists was used (Dorociak, Rupert, Bryant, et al., 2017). The other variables of interest anticipated stigma and attendance in personal therapy were measured by the Anticipated Stigma Scale ( Quinn & Chaudoir, 2009; Quinn et al., 2014) and having participants detail their therapy experience similarly to what prior researchers had done (Bike et al., 2009; Byrne & Ost, 2016; Byrne & Shufelt, 2014; Geller et al., 2005; Kalkbrenner & Neukrug, 2019; Kalkbrenner et al., 2019; Norcross, 2005; Norcross et al., 2008; Orlinsky et al., 2011; Ziede & Norcross, 2020). A multivariate multiple linear regression was used to analyze the data of 100 participants (Keith, 2019; Remler & Van Ryzin, 2015; Rencher & Christensen, 2012). The results did not provide any evidence that anticipated stigma and personal therapy explained a significant amount of the variation within self-care for mental health professional trainees; no evidence was found for either of the variables separately nor was there evidence found for a difference between groups of those who did and did not attend therapy. Theoretical, research, and clinical implications are discussed suggesting how further inquiry might be conducted to better understand self-care for the mental health trainee population

    Novice clinicians and the experience of transcendence in clinical training and supervision

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    This autoethnographic study, from the perspective of novice clinicians, used a directed, or deductive, qualitative content analysis to explore the presence of transcendent experiences, as one aspect of personal growth for three first year clinical psychology doctoral students. A total of fifty-three journal entries describing critical moments during their first-year clinical training and supervision experience were used for this study. Coding categories for transcendence that reflected the quality of “being more” were drawn from existing literature. In descending order of frequency, results from this exploratory study found that transcendence was experienced by these trainees, centered first and predominantly on capacity (or competence), followed by themes involving: the pursuit of truth, the emergence of altruism, the development of self-identity, reflections beyond the self, awe and spirituality and finally, growth through peak experiences. The findings are discussed as they relate to current literature, along with limitations, implications and recommendations, and this author’s personal reflections
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