Better Preparing Sports Psychologists for the Demands of Applied Practice: The Emotional Labor Training Gap

The aim of this article was to investigate the emotional educational–training–practice gap in the professional formation of sport and exercise psychologists in the United Kingdom through the theoretical lens of emotional labor. Twenty semistructured interviews were conducted with 4 participant groups: master’s students (n?=?5), trainees (n?=?5), neophytes (n?=?5), and experienced sport and exercise psychologists (n?=?5). Adopting an interpretive epistemology, an abductive thematic analysis was conducted in relation to the participant groups recruited. Several overarching themes were identified in each participant group: (a) master’s students (emotional labor as theory, practice), (b) trainees (emotional labor to survive, a professional development tool), (c) neophytes (emotional labor as a new professional, self-care), and (d) experienced sport and exercise psychologists (emotional labor as a professional resource, lifelong learning). A synthesized list of applied recommendations to improve the professional formation of sport and exercise psychologists was developed based on the analysis. The themes extend sport and exercise psychology professional development literature, and we make recommendations for educators, professional associations, and regulatory bodies with regard to (a) bridging the emotional labor and experiential gap when transitioning between development phases via collaborative and innovative educational provision, (b) supporting the development of skills relating to the enactment of emotional labor, and (c) considering support mechanisms for student/trainee/neophyte safeguarding and welfare issues as a result of the emotion-laden transactions in professional practice. The implications for future pedagogy, andragogy, and research are discussed.

Lay Summary

Sports psychologists need to manage their emotions when working with athletes and coaches, but this is not often taught during education or training. This study aimed to understand whether sports psychologists were aware of or prepared to manage their emotions and to identify activities that could develop education and training courses.     

Learning and difficult experiences in graduate training in clinical psychology: A qualitative study of Japanese trainees’ retrospective accounts

This study examined the experiences of Japanese clinical psychology trainees in their graduate school with the aim of identifying factors that might enhance or hinder their learning and professional development. We analyzed the interview data obtained from 17 clinical psychologists using grounded theory approach. Two major category groups were generated: Developing as a Clinician and Difficulties. The primary positive learning experiences in Developing as a Clinician were labeled “Hot Learning,” in which trainees acquired professional knowledge and skills through close interpersonal engagement with clients, peers, faculty, and supervisors. In contrast, Difficulties involved trainees’ negative experiences resulting in feelings of self-doubt and incompetence. These experiences occurred in close but sometimes conflicted interpersonal contexts, where trainees felt evaluated in a manner incommensurate with the support they received. We found that the quality of interpersonal relationships, which provided the context for optimal learning for trainees, was paramount to the definition of positive versus difficult learning experiences. Implications for therapist training, professional development and future research are discussed.     

Relational spirituality,differentiation of self,and virtue as predictors of intercultural development

The present study tested the relationships between spirituality, differentiation of self (DoS), virtue (gratitude and forgiveness), and intercultural development among graduate trainees in the helping professions. A relational model of spiritual dwelling and seeking and the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity were used to conceptualise the study. Data were collected in a sample (N?=?174) of graduate students in counselling psychology, marriage and family therapy, ministry professions, and theology at a Protestant-affiliated university. Results supported the hypotheses that quest religiosity, DoS, and gratitude would be positively associated with intercultural development and spiritual grandiosity would be negatively associated with intercultural development. Intrinsic religiosity was not related to intercultural development. DoS mediated the relationship between gratitude and intercultural development. Contrary to hypotheses, forgiveness was largely uncorrelated with intercultural development. Implications are considered for training in intercultural competence, particularly with highly religious trainees.     

Consistency of supervisor and peer ratings of assessment interviews conducted by psychology trainees

Observation of counsellor skills through a one-way mirror, video or audio recording followed by supervisors and peers feedback is common in counsellor training. The nature and extent of agreement between supervisor–peer dyads are unclear. Using a standard scale, supervisors and peers rated 32 interviews by psychology trainees observed through a one-way mirror. Results indicated that peers and supervisors used similar dimensions to cluster the various competencies. Peers rated counsellor performance more positively for general counselling skills, but not for specialised techniques. Analyses revealed good supervisor–peer agreement for some items and poor agreement on others, with some differences being unacceptably large. The study has important implications for how feedback involving supervisors and peers might be managed and for peer supervision models.     

Federal Funds to Train Clinical Psychologists for Work with Underserved Populations: The Bureau of Health Professions Graduate Psychology Education Grants Program

This paper describes the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) Graduate Psychology Education program (GPE), which supports projects that train health service psychologists for work with underserved populations. BHPr history and funding criteria are discussed, as are those of BHPr's parent organization, the Health Resources Service Administration. BHPr objectives and methods for support of clinical psychology training parallel those that BHPr has used to support training in other heath professions. The paper also describes three psychology internship training programs in academic medical settings that competed successfully for BHPr GPE funding in 2002. The three training projects differ significantly in training rotation sites, target populations with which trainees work, and the other health care professions that partner with psychology in interdisciplinary training—but they are similar in that each project provides an example of a program that effectively satisfied BHPr criteria for expanding psychology's scope of practice with underserved populations.     

Teaching Clinical Psychology Trainees about Weight Bias

Abstract

As an assistant professor who teaches clinical psychology trainees about social aspects of behavior, I devote one week to the topic of weight bias. In this class, I rely on the research literature to challenge common myths about “obesity,” demonstrate the pervasiveness and harm of weight bias, and offer recommendations to trainees to apply to their own professional and personal lives. I encourage trainees to shift focus from weight and weight loss to health and well-being and to engage in self-reflection on the role of weight bias in their interactions with others. Here, I describe my weight bias seminar and outline common questions and my responses to them (e.g., Do you actually believe that “obese” people can be healthy?). Weight bias is a neglected topic in most clinical psychology training programs. Weight bias must be addressed in clinical psychology programs to produce culturally competent graduates who are aware of diversity issues.     

The good,the bad and the uncertainty: Trainees' perceptions of the personal development group

Background: Views about the purpose and role of personal development groups (PD group) in the counsellor training process are varied. Some argue they enhance self‐awareness, self‐exploration, the ability to be congruent and, ultimately, that they make for better practitioners. Others argue there is no clear evidence for such benefits and that they can actually be damaging to trainees. Aims: This study aimed to explore the beliefs of 25 trainees enrolled on counselling diploma or counselling psychology doctoral courses. It looked in particular at their perceptions of the purpose of PD groups and their expectations regarding support, difficulties and the scope of their participation. Method: Data was collected using open‐ended questions in an anonymous survey and was subjected to a thematic analysis. Results: Trainees appeared to hold mixed – and sometimes conflicting – views about the PD group. For some it was a positive endeavour that facilitated learning about self and clients, and helped in the processes of developing counselling skills and keeping the training group healthy. For others it was a feared space, which could elicit negative emotional experiences, and impact negatively on both learning outside of the PD group and the health of the group itself. Still others were unclear about its purpose. Hope/idealisation (of the process, the facilitator and course tutors) were also evident in the trainees' responses. Implications: Implications of these findings for counselling training are discussed.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

This article reports on a comparison of the views of teachers in Italy and the United Kingdom on their profession in relation to other professions. Common constructs about their profession are discussed for each national group, followed by a commentary on the similarities and differences between the groups related to their embedding culture. For example, both groups perceive teachers as having much in common with social workers and the clergy in terms of high demand for emotional involvement and creativity, while both express concern over low income for effort conjoined with erosion of professional autonomy. This latter concern is more pronounced in the data from Italy, reflecting the more centralized control of curriculum, a policy only currently being initiated in the United Kingdom

Although we are sympathetic to the reservations of Yorke (1987) about their utility in the study of teachers' thinking (as noted in Pope [1981] and Denicolo [1985]), we found the grid procedure to be a useful vehicle for exploring the issues in this study. Thus we have avoided treating the grid data in an essentially positivistic manner and did use notes made during the conversations that occurred during grid completion to shed light on the personal meaning to the participant of the words used to denote each construct. Within this article the details of personal meanings of each participant are omitted, although the analysis and discussion took account of these, since our particular goal here is to present the group data for the two countries.

The focus had been on the teachers' constructs regarding the teaching profession. The same data could be used to illuminate their views on any of the professions discussed in the study. In addition to developing insights into teachers' thinking about their profession, the study helped to strengthen the developing spirit of international collaboration in research in teacher education from the perspective of personal construct psychology.     

Sources of influence on the professional development of psychologists and psychiatrists in Norway and Germany

Background: There are many professional psychotherapists, but no psychotherapy profession. The psychotherapists’ professions vary between countries, the most frequent being psychiatry and clinical psychology.

Aim: As these professions have different basic training and also may be impacted differently by other factors, we wanted to study potential differences as to perceived influences on their development as psychotherapists across career level, theoretical orientation, and gender.

Methods: More than 2500 Norwegian and German psychiatrists and psychologists reported data on their professional development in the DPCCQ/2000, a lengthy multi-part survey instrument developed within the ‘Collaborative Research Network’ of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. The four groups were compared for differences, and a series of multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the impact of profession on a variety of aspects of therapist experiences.

Results: Although a few therapist experiences (e.g. teaching, treating patients, institutional conditions) had a significantly different impact between the two professions, as a main effect, they only accounted for less than 1% or the variance.

Conclusion: Profession seems to have little influence on perceived development as a psychotherapist, and it is reasonable to conclude that other therapist qualities, often personal qualities, are more important for therapeutic processes and outcomes.     

Effects of Training Reflective Listening in a Corporate Setting

A communication skills training of insurance company employees was devised and evaluated. Study 1 compared trained and untrained employees on their Reflective listening (RL; Rogers, 1951) skills before and after a 16-hr training, as they conversed with a confederate who rated them, and their responses were categorized. In a follow-up Study 2, some of the employees audiotaped conversations with customers, and their responses were categorized as well. In a validation Study 3, students rated conversations by employees who used more or less RL. Results showed that training increased RL, and that the skills were subsequently transferred to an authentic setting. Results did not show that trained employees were evaluated differently than untrained. Implications of the results are discussed.     

A qualitative study of client experiences of working with novice counsellors

Aims: This paper reports on a qualitative analysis of written accounts by clients who participated in a counselling relationship with beginning-level trainees. The purpose of the study was to explore how clients experience the process of counselling with novice practitioners. Method: Consensual qualitative research was used for data analysis. Findings: Three general thematic categories were identified – client perceptions of self in counselling; client perceptions of the counsellor; and client perception of the counselling process. Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that these clients saw the interpersonal qualities and skills of the counsellor as major contributors to their experience. Implications: Clinical training of novices should start by developing the interpersonal and collaborative skills of trainees.     

The relevance of previous knowledge of psychology to training in basic counselling skills

The relative effectiveness of counsellor skills training for trainees with and without traditional undergraduate backgrounds in psychology was assessed during a simulated counselling interview following a five-week training programme based upon micro-skills and a systematic model. Trainees with backgrounds in psychology were significantly superior to trainees without a similar background.     

School Psychology: Training Individuals for One of the Best Kept Secrets in Professional Psychology

Abstract

School psychology training at the doctoral level is discussed. Given the increasing diversity in the schools as well as the varied education and mental health needs of the population, school psychology training is necessarily broad, involving traditional skills such as assessment, intervention, consultation, and counseling, all of which are taught within a context of a changing school population with changing needs. Because there is compulsory education, school psychologists’ interface with a broad cross-section of individual children, their parents, and their teachers. Moreover, school psychological practice is not limited to schools, as doctoral school psychologists are health service providers; many of these individuals work in other settings for which they are trained to provide services. The complexities and challenges of training school psychologists within this broad agenda effectively across domains are discussed.     

The effect of implementation intentions on transfer of training

Two experiments investigated the effect of forming implementation intentions on transfer of training in two training programs. In the first experiment (N = 37), trainees who formed implementation intentions implemented active listening skills sooner, and to a greater degree, than those in the control group. In the second experiment (n = 28), conducted in the field, trainees who formed implementation intentions received a higher performance score for implementing the trained behavior compared with those in the control condition. Results from both experiments provide empirical evidence suggesting that forming implementation intentions at the end of a training program increases the likelihood of using the newly acquired skills.     

Questions as Interventions: Perceptions of Socratic, Solution Focused, and Diagnostic Questioning Styles

A videotaped psychotherapy analogue compared psychology trainees' (n = 67) and undergraduate non-therapists' (n = 115) perceptions of three theoretically derived questioning styles: Socratic disputation in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), solution focused questioning (e.g. the miracle question), and diagnostic interviewing. Non-therapists rated REBT and diagnostic styles more highly than psychology trainees. All subjects rated solution focused questioning more highly than both other styles, perceiving it as more collaborative and conducive to the client's independent thinking. The constructs of collaborative empiricism and solution focused cooperation are discussed in relation to findings. The study also compared psychology trainees' and non-therapists' Big Five personality profiles, a topic which has not previously been addressed in the literature. Psychology trainees were higher in Big Five Openness and Agreeableness than non-therapists. Openness was negatively associated with ratings for solution focused and diagnostic questioning styles, replicating findings of previous analogue studies, in which undergraduate subjects preferred straightforward approaches to therapy.     

A School Psychologist's Self-Study Guide to Sport Psychology

SUMMARY

School psychologists may find the field of sport psychology beneficial to them in extending their skills and effectiveness. As trained psychologists, they are likely to already have some of the knowledge and skills necessary for working in the area of sport psychology. However, without additional training, this may not be sufficient for ethical and effective practice. This article enumerates the necessary knowledge and skills for working in sport psychology according to APA's recent proficiency standards. It then details a plethora of available resources and methods for entering into the domain of sport psychology. The article emphasizes self-study while continuing to practice ethically within the ‘boundaries of one's competence.’     

Evaluating Training Needs for Home-Based Family Therapy: A Focus Group Approach

Therapists and supervisors engaged in the delivery of home-based services participated in two rounds of focus groups. Participants discussed the challenges they face doing home-based therapy, and how an accredited family therapy program could modify its curriculum to better prepare trainees to meet these demands. Eight topic areas considered necessary for home-based practice were identified and the implications for training reviewed. The focus group methodology is described in detail and is recommended as a useful tool to assess training needs and as a way of promoting improved collaboration among training sites.     

Self-efficacy does not appear to mediate training’s effect on performance based on the moderation-of-process design

ABSTRACT

Researchers in the area of training and motivation have concluded that training causes improvements in performance partially via training’s influence on self-efficacy. A set of studies employing a moderation-of-process design contradicts this conclusion. Specifically, when two groups of trainees did not know their performance was increasing during training, their self-efficacy did not increase. Two other groups were able to observe improving performance, which enhanced self-efficacy. However, both groups in both studies exhibited equal improvement in performance. This effect was shown in two contexts: training on a physical task and training on a cognitive task. These results demonstrate that self-efficacy might not always play a causal role in determining training’s influence. The studies highlight the value of a rarely used moderation-of-process method for assessing mediation.     

With crisis comes opportunity: Building ethical competencies in light of COVID-19

ABSTRACT

The emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has wide-ranging implications for the field of professional psychology. As clinical practice has rapidly adapted to ensure continuity of care, doctoral students have encountered unique opportunities for ethics-related competency development across practicum training settings. This article discusses the relevant American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Code standards and additional ethical considerations facing trainees as they navigate their foundational clinical experiences and develop as professional psychologists in light of a pandemic.