Modeling therapist responses with structured practice enhances facilitative interpersonal skills

Abstract

Objective Facilitative interpersonal skills (FIS) video stimuli were used to develop and test a brief training component of observational modeling with repeated practice. Specifically, this study hypothesized that a brief training of video modeling therapeutic use of interpersonal skills, combined with repeated practice, would result in improved FIS responses (relative to control). Method Undergraduates (n = 101) with expressed interest in the helping professions were randomly assigned to Modeled Practice or Control conditions. After a baseline, participants in Modeled Practice observed model responses and then repeatedly practiced different responses, while those in the Control group observed videos comparable in format, but nontherapeutic in content. Participants then gave responses to different simulated clients, which were used to assess hypotheses. Results FIS for Modeled Practice was significantly higher than controls in postpractice. Conclusions Result provides empirical support for training in practice strategy components and has implications for therapeutic deliberate practice training.

Testing a deliberate practice workshop for developing appropriate responsivity to resistance markers.

“…What is novel and promising, is that a brief DP training in a workshop format can have a potentially more durable impact on skill development and continued practice. These effects are consistent with expectations from the science of expertise in general (Ericsson & Pool, 2016) and DP in psychotherapy in particular (Anderson, Perlman, McCarrick, & McClintlock, 2019; Chow et al, 2015; Hill et al, 2019).…”

How students use deliberate practice during the first stage of counsellor training

“…Within the field of deliberate practice of therapy skills, although a distributed approach to accessing expertise underpins the study by Chow et al. (2015), the predominant trend has been to espouse an apprenticeship model in which the learner is guided by a single authoritative coach (e.g., Anderson et al., 2019; Di Bartolomeo et al., 2020; Di Bartolomeo et al., 2020; Hill et al., 2019; Miller, Chow, et al., 2020; Miller et al., 2020; Rousmaniere, 2016; Shukla et al., 2020; Westra et al., 2020). Findings of the present study showed that students made use of multiple sources of expertise, including peers, experienced therapists (e.g., course tutors and videos of master therapists) and research evidence (e.g., measures of competence in specific skills), in a manner consistent with analyses of distributed expertise within communities of practice (Damasceno, 2018; Lave & Wenger, 1991).…”

“…Within the domain of psychotherapy, Rousmaniere (2016, 2018) has described a model of deliberate practice in which clinical supervision focused on enabling the supervisee to address skill deficits highlighted in client feedback. In studies of training workshops in specific skills, deliberate practice of modelled responses has resulted in higher level trainee skill improvement, compared with outcomes when deliberate practice was not used (Anderson et al., 2019; Di Bartolomeo et al., 2020; Di Bartolomeo et al., 2020; Hill et al., 2019; Shukla et al., 2020; Westra et al., 2020). A further pattern of deliberate practice of therapy competencies comprises self‐practice in which practitioners develop competence in therapy concepts and interventions through spending time applying these tools to issues in their own life (Bennett‐Levy, 2019; Bennett‐Levy & Finlay‐Jones, 2018).…”

Persuasiveness: An underappreciated characteristic of effective therapists.

“…DP is defined as “individualized training activities especially designed by a coach or teacher to improve specific aspects of an individual’s performance through repetition and successive refinement.” (Ericsson & Lehmann, 1996). Preliminary research suggests that DP principles can be successfully applied to psychotherapy training and supervision and predict therapist’s skill development and client outcomes (Anderson et al, 2019; Chow et al, 2015; Goldberg et al, 2016; Hill et al, 2019; Westra et al, 2020). Applying these principles to the repeated procedural training of persuasiveness-related skills might wield important benefits for the trainee’s future clinical effectiveness.…”