This thesis explores, in a team context, using the Michigan Model, the relationship between social support, stress and well-being outcomes. The studies reported were carried out in Post Office Ltd. Study one examines differences in social support source and type for employees working in teams and quasi teams. Analysis was carried out at the individual level. The results supported previous work on well-being in teams: individuals working in teams report significantly higher levels of well-being, job satisfaction and organisational commitment than those individuals in quasi teams. Members of teams reported greater satisfaction with support from their manager and colleagues, and all types of support compared to members of quasi teams. Manager support and specific types of support mediated the relationship between team working and well-being outcomes. In terms of stressors, satisfaction with manager support and emotional challenge predicted greater influence which was positively related to the well-being outcomes. Study two conducted at the team level builds on relationships established in study one. Stage one explored teamness, the extent to which, along a continuum the team was well-defined. Stage two explored teamness agreement, the extent to which the team agreed on their teamness. The extent to which the Branch Office were a well-defined team had a positive effect on team functioning; participation, innovation and commitment to task excellence. Team functioning was associated with higher levels of satisfaction with manager and team support and all types of support. Working in a well-defined team was associated with job satisfaction, mediated by positive team functioning and social support. Teamness agreement predicted team well-being, clarity of objectives, work demands and satisfaction with reality check. Working in a team was not associated with performance.

This thesis investigates how identity styles operate in a non-Western cultural context. Through four papers, it both tests and extends some of the theoretical assertions made by the social constructivist approach of identity styles (Berzonsky, 2011), which proposes that people construct both ‘who they think they are' and ‘the reality in which they live', through informational, normative or diffuse-avoidant identity orientations. Although the relationship among identity styles and well-being is well established in Western literature, there is a serious dearth of similar research in non-Western cultures such as Pakistan. Western theories tend to assume the universal generalisability of identity styles and their relationship with well-being. The primary aim of this research is to test the validity of this assumption in the cultural context of Pakistan. Paper 1 systematically examines the factorial structure of the Identity Styles Inventory (ISI-5) in a Pakistani sample. In confirmatory factor analysis, normative orientation items perform relatively poorly, leading to a possibility that the conception of normative orientation is not as universal as previously assumed. Paper 2 shows that well-being is predicted positively by information orientation and negatively by diffuse-avoidant orientation in the Pakistani sample. Normative orientation remained as non-significant predictor of well-being. Identity commitment and satisfaction of identity motives partially mediate these links. Paper 3 explores the indigenous processes of identity formation through qualitative semi-structured interviews. Normative orientation is found to operate at a much more complex level than assumed previously. Participants described many different ways of being normative, making this a less automatic, mindless and effortless process in Pakistani culture than assumed previously based on Western research models. Paper 4 focuses on the construction and psychometric testing of new measures of normative orientation suitable for use with the samples from Pakistan. Together, these studies illustrate the value of using indigenous perspectives to enrich Western-based understandings of identity formation.

La charge de travail est une notion classique, dont les premiers développements datent des années 1970. Au fil du temps, et à travers les évolutions juridiques, sociales et techniques, la notion se démocratise pour atteindre les sphères les plus proches du travail "réel". Les IRP, les intervenants, se préoccupent de plus en plus d'une charge qui pose problème. Les directions, quant à elles, font face à des obligations plus précises en termes de charge de travail, qui ne lui rendent pas toujours la tâche facile. Les principaux développements en termes de charge de travail s'attachent à une dissociation en dimensions physiologique, mentale, psychique… Mais cette ossature est-elle réellement adaptée aux besoins concrets de nos interventions ? Se focaliser sur l'un ou l'autre de ces aspects paraît alors limiter l'analyse. Nous préférons envisager la charge de travail dans sa dimension "intégrée", et favorisons une analyse de l'activité pour l'approcher. Cette approche nous permet de comprendre les procédés de régulation opérés par l'individu en situation de travail, synonymes d'absorption de la charge. La question du dispositif d'intervention demeure alors : quels outils, quelle démarche peut-on mobiliser pour atteindre ces procédés de régulation ? Le contexte de notre intervention, nous permet-il une totale liberté méthodologique ? Nous proposons une démarche d'analyse de la charge dans le cadre d'interventions juchées d'enjeux sociaux et politiques : l'expertise à destination des CHSCT. Ce type d'intervention apporte de nombreuses contraintes, notamment temporelle et dans la manipulation d'outils. La démarche que nous suggérons a été appliquée lors de l'investigation de 4 cas d'expertise tous issus du milieu bancaire (supports et commerciaux). L'objectif final a été de distinguer, pour chacun des cas, un modèle de gestion de la charge de travail par un opérateur selon les contraintes identifiées et les ressources qu’il mobilise / The workload is a classic notion that started emerging in the 1970s. Over time, and throughout legal, social, and technical evolutions, this notion is now democratising itself and is reaching the closest spheres of the "real" work. The staff representative bodies and the various actors care increasingly about a troublesome workload. As for management, they are facing more precise obligations in terms of workload, which sometimes makes things difficult for them.The main developments in terms of workload are committed to dissociating the physiological, psychological and mental dimensions… But is this framework really suitable for the concrete needs of our interventions? Focusing on one or the other aspect therefore seems to limit the analysis. We have therefore chosen to study the workload in its "integrated" dimension and we suggest approaching the subject through an analysis of the activity. This will enable us to understand the regulation processes used by the individual in a work situation, processes which enable workload absorption. The question of the intervention mechanism remains then : which tools, which approach can we use in order to reach these regulation processes? Does the context of our intervention allow us a complete methodological freedom? We suggest an analytical approach of the workload within the context of interventions strewn with very strong social and political issues : the Health and Safety Committee consultancy. This type of intervention comes with a lot of constraints, notably in terms of timeline and tools. The approach we are suggesting was used during 4 case-studies, all of them in the banking sector (support and sales).The final objective was to identify, for each of the 4 cases, a management model of an operator’s workload according to the identified constraints and the resources he mobilises

The increasing importance of environmental friendly and efficient transportation guides the interest of researchers and car manufacturers towards the development of technologies that support an efficient driving style. This thesis presents the development of a traffic light assistance system with the focus on human factors. The system aims on supporting drivers in approaching traffic light intersections efficiently. In three driving simulator studies, the content related research covered the investigation of the unassisted driving task, the influence of the system on the driver’s perception of the interaction with other road users and the information strategy of the human machine interface. When the traffic light phase changes or when visibility is limited, drivers prepare driving behaviour that is not appropriate for the traffic light phase at arrival at the intersection. These situations offer the greatest potential for the assistance system. The traffic light assistant is able to change driving behaviour. However, the expectation of other road user’s emotional reactions influences driver compliance. In situations in which drivers expected to bother others with their driving behaviour, compliance to the traffic light assistant was low. Further, the deviations of driver behaviour from the target strategy of the traffic light assistant are lowest when the HMI includes the two information units target speed and action recommendations. Traffic light phase information in the HMI is a subjectively important information for drivers. The results point towards the presentation of all three information units. The method related research covered the development of a method for measuring drivers’ information demand for dynamic stimuli. While driving, specific stimuli are action relevant for drivers, i.e. they need to be processed in order to decide on the appropriate driving behaviour. Eye tracking has been the standard method for measuring information demand while driving. The novel MARS (Masking Action Relevant Stimuli) method measures information demand by masking the dynamic action relevant stimulus in the driving environment or in the vehicle. To unmask the stimulus for a fixed interval, drivers press a button at the steering wheel. In the present thesis, two driving simulator studies evaluated the MARS method. They included measuring information demand for the traffic light phasing and the in-vehicle display of the traffic light assistant. The analyses demonstrate that variations in the experimental conditions influence the information demand measured with the MARS method qualitatively similar to the influences on fixations measured by eye tracking. Due to its simple application, the MARS method represents a promising tool for transportation research. / Die wachsende Bedeutung umweltfreundlicher und effizienter Mobilität hat zur zunehmenden Entwicklung von Technologien geführt, die Fahrer bei der Umsetzung eines effizienten Fahrstils unterstützen. Die vorliegende Arbeit beinhaltet die Entwicklung eines Ampelassistenten aus verkehrspsychologischer Sicht. Das System unterstützt Fahrer bei der effizienten Annäherung an Ampelkreuzungen. Drei Fahrsimulatorstudien betrachten die inhaltlichen Forschungsfragen zur Analyse von nicht-assistiertem Fahrverhalten, der Wahrnehmung der Interaktion zwischen verschiedenen Verkehrsteilnehmern mit und ohne Assistenzsystem und der Informationsstrategie in der Mensch-Maschine Schnittstelle des Systems. In Fahrsituationen mit wechselnden Ampelphasen oder Sichtverdeckung initiieren Fahrer Verhalten, das im Hinblick auf die Ampelphase bei Ankunft an der Kreuzung unangemessen ist. Diese Situationen bieten das größte Potential für eine Unterstützung durch das Assistenzsystem. Die weiteren Studien zeigen, dass der Ampelassistent das Fahrverhalten beeinflusst. Hierbei spielt die Erwartung, die Fahrer an die emotionalen Reaktionen nachfolgender Fahrer in der Kolonne haben, eine Rolle. In Situationen, in denen Fahrer erwarten andere zu behindern, sinkt die Bereitschaft sich an die Empfehlungen des Systems zu halten. Die Abweichungen des Fahrverhaltens vom Zielverhalten der Funktion sind am geringsten, wenn Handlungs- und Geschwindigkeitsempfehlungen gegeben werden. Information zur Ampelphase stellt für die Fahrer subjektiv eine wichtige Informationseinheit dar. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, alle drei Informationen zur Kommunikation des Zielverhaltens zu präsentieren. Der methodische Teil der Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Messung des Informationsbedarfs für dynamische Reize. Um Entscheidungen für das angemessene Fahrverhalten zu treffen, müssen Fahrer bestimmte handlungsrelevante Informationen erfassen. Eye Tracking ist eine Standardmethode um den Informationsbedarf für fahrrelevante Reize zu messen. Die im Zuge der Arbeit entwickelte MARS (Masking Action Relevant Stimuli) Methode misst den Informationsbedarf durch Verdeckung. Der Fahrer kann die Verdeckung des Reizes durch Tastendruck für einen limitierten Zeitraum lösen. In zwei Fahrsimulatorstudien wurde die MARS Methode auf die Ampelschaltung und die Darstellung im Display des Ampelassistenten angewendet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die MARS Methode die experimentellen Variationen des Informationsbedarfs abbilden kann. Die Ergebnisse sind vergleichbar mit der Variation in Fixationen gemessen durch Eye Tracking. Aufgrund ihrer einfachen Umsetzung ist die MARS Methode als Forschungsinstrument vielversprechend.

Für eine gesunde kindliche Entwicklung ist besonders in der frühen Kindheit guter Schlaf sehr wichtig. Gerade im Baby- und Kleinkindalter sind Schlafschwierigkeiten jedoch ein häufiges Phänomen. Vor allem Ein- und Durchschlafstörungen kommen vielfach vor, die nicht automatisch mit zunehmendem Alter eines Kindes remittieren. Sie können persistieren und zum Teil auch schwerwiegende Folgen für die kindliche Entwicklung haben. Nicht nur Hyperaktivität, Reizbarkeit und Aggressivität treten bei Kindern mit Schlafstörungen gehäuft auf, sondern auch Tagesmüdigkeit, Konzentrationsund Gedächtnisstörungen sowie kognitive Beeinträchtigungen können die Folge sein. Darüber hinaus können Depressionen, Angststörungen und Übergewicht langfristige Folgen von Schlafstörungen sein. Auch wirken sich die Schlafstörungen bei jungen Kindern negativ auf die Eltern aus. Daher ist es wichtig, Schlafprobleme im frühen Kindesalter zu erkennen, ernst zu nehmen und frühzeitig zu behandeln. Die vorliegende Arbeit besteht aus drei Teilen. Es wurden das elterliche Wissen über Schlaf im Kleinkindalter sowie eine Auswahl von Elternratgeberliteratur für kindliche Schlafprobleme untersucht. Ferner wurde das multimodale Elterntrainingsprogramm „Mini-KiSS“, ein Elterntraining für Kinder bis vier Jahren mit Schlafstörungen (Schlarb_2014), hinsichtlich seiner externen Validität betrachtet. Da Eltern diejenigen sind, die als erste mit den Schlafproblemen ihres Kindes konfrontiert sind, sollten sie kindliche Schlafstörungen als diese erkennen und auch einschätzen können, um ggf. weiterführende Maßnahme einzuleiten. Deshalb ist es wichtig, dass Eltern über den kindlichen Schlaf informiert sind. Um dieses elterliche Wissen über Schlaf von jungen Kindern zu erfassen, wurde ein Fragebogen entwickelt, in dem Anwendungs- und Faktenwissen über Schlaf im Baby- und Kleinkindalter erfragt wurden. Dieser wurde einer Online-Stichprobe (N = 1291) vorgelegt. Insgesamt verfügten die Eltern über ein gutes Wissen, sie beantworteten 65% der Fragen korrekt. Es zeigte sich jedoch ein Unterschied zwischen dem Anwendungswissen, wo die Eltern 72% korrekt beantworteten und dem Faktenwissen, wo die Eltern 61% der gestellten Fragen korrekt beantworteten. Allerdings wurden auch Unsicherheiten sowie Wissensdefizite deutlich, die noch genauer erfasst werden und denen künftig mit unverbindlichen Informations- und Beratungsangeboten begegnet werden sollte. Insbesondere bei den Interventionsmöglichkeiten zum Umgang mit einer Schlafproblematik im Kleinkindalter wurde ein Dissens deutlich, der sich auch in der nachfolgenden Analyse von Elternratgeberliteratur für Schlafschwierigkeiten widerspiegelte. Es wurden Literaturanalysen über Ratgeber für das Kindesalter einerseits und für das Baby- und Kleinkindalter andererseits durchgeführt. Dabei konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Autoren entweder eine Position zum lerntheoretischen Ansatz der graduierten Extinktion bezogen und diese Methode empfohlen oder das Co-Sleeping, also das gemeinsame Schlafen von Eltern und Kind in einem Bett, favorisierten. Zudem wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit das multimodale Elterntraining Mini-KiSS bezüglich der externen Validität im Langzeitverlauf erfolgreich überprüft. Das Elterntraining richtet sich an Eltern von Kindern im Alter von sechs Monaten bis vier Jahren mit Schlafstörungen und findet in Form von sechs aufeinanderfolgenden Elternabenden statt. Durch das Training kam es zu signifikanten Verbesserungen des kindlichen und mütterlichen Schlafes, diese bis zur Ein-Jahres-Katamnese stabil. Auch weitere mit problematischem kindlichem Schlafverhalten assoziierte Parameter, wie das allgemeine kindliche Problemverhalten sowie die elterliche Gesamtbelastung, konnten nachhaltig reduziert werden. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit konnte gezeigt werden, dass sich die Intervention sowohl auf das Kind als auch auf die Eltern positiv auswirkte, was auch anhand von objektiven Verfahren bestätigt werden konnte. Zusammengefasst leistet diese Arbeit somit mit der Befragung einer großen Online-Stichprobe zu frühkindlichem Schlaf, der literaturanalytischen Betrachtung ausgewählter Ratgeberliteratur sowie der erfolgreichen Prüfung der externen Validität des Mini-KiSS-Trainings einen wichtigen und richtungsweisenden Beitrag zur aktuellen Forschung im Bereich der nichtorganischen Schlafstörungen im Kleinkindalter. / A good night’s sleep is highly important for the healthy development of children. Especially during infancy, many children suffer from sleep difficulties. Commonly, these children have problems falling asleep or sleeping through the night that do not automatically remit with age. They can persist and have severe consequences for the child. Hyperactivity, irritability and aggression do more often occur in children with sleep disorders as well as concentration deficits and memory disorders compared to children without sleep disorders. Long-term outcomes as depression, anxiety disorders and obesity are also possible outcomes of childhood sleep disorders. Besides, sleep disorders in young children do also have negative consequences for parents and parental health. Due to this, it is of high importance to be aware of sleep problems in childhood, to give attention to them and to have them treated properly. This work consists of three parts. First, parental sleep-related knowledge as well as second guidebooks on sleep in childhood were analyzed. Third, the multimodal parent education program “Mini-KiSS” (Schlarb_2014) was tested for long-term effects on both children and parents. As parents are the first to be directly affected by their child‘s sleep difficulties, it is of high importance for them to react properly in order to possibly take action. Little is known about the knowledge of German parents about sleep in children, and about how they react when faced with sleep problems of their children. Therefore, a preliminary, primarily descriptive demographic survey on applied and theoretical sleep-related knowledge was carried out (N = 1291). Taken together, the results showed a good parental knowledge on sleep. However, knowledge deficits as well as insecurities concerning certain topics could also be shown. In the future consulting services for information only and without responsibility for parents should be established. Especially concerning the debate on handling sleep problems in infancy a debate became clear which also applied to the following analysis of guidebooks on sleep disorders in early childhood. Guidebooks for both sleep problems in infancy and school-aged children were analyzed concerning different criteria. Results showed that authors stood in either for the extinction approach or for co-sleeping. In addition, the multimodal parent education program Mini-KiSS was tested successfully for external validity. The program is addressed to parents of infants aged six months to four years and consists of six sessions for parents. Results showed positive effects on both children and parents which could also be shown by means of objective data. Improvements of both maternal and infantile sleep remained stable up to one year after training. Moreover, further with problematic sleep associated parameters of both children and parents were significantly reduced up to the one-year follow up. Taken together, the presented work contributes both vitally and indicatory to current research in the field of non-organic sleep disorders in infancy with an encompassing demographic survey on sleep in infancy, the analysis of selectively picked guide books and furthermore, the efficient verification of the multimodal parent training Mini-KiSS.

Driving simulators are powerful research tools. Countless simulator studies have contributed to traffic safety over the last decades. Constant improvements in simulator technology call for a measureable scale to assess driving simulators with regard to their utility in human factors research. A promising psychological construct to do so is presence. It is commonly defined as the feeling of being located in a remote or virtual environment that seems to be real. Another aspect of presence describes the ability to act there successfully. The main aim of this thesis is to develop a presence model dedicated to the application in driving simulators. Established models have been combined and extended in order to gain a comprehensive model of presence that allows understanding its emergence and deriving recommendations on how to design or improve driving simulators. The five studies presented in this thesis investigate specific postulated model components and their interactions. All studies deal with motorcycling or a motorcycle riding simulator as exemplary field of application. The first study used a speed estimation task to investigate the contribution of different sensory cues to presence. While visualization plays a particularly important role, further improvements could be achieved by adding more consistent sensory stimuli to the virtual environment. Auditory, proprioceptive and vestibular cues have been subject to investigation. In the second study, the speed production method was applied. It confirmed the positive contribution of action to presence as predicted by psychocybernetic models. The third study dealt with the effect of training on presence. Hence, no positive effect was observed. The fourth study aimed at replicating previous findings on sensory fidelity and diversity in a more complex riding situation than only longitudinal vehicle control. The riders had to cross an unexpectedly appearing deep pit with the virtual motorcycle. The contribution of more consistent sensory stimulation on presence was successfully shown in this scenario, too. The final study was a real riding experiment that delivered reference values for the speed estimation capabilities of motorcycle riders. Besides higher variations in the simulator data, the general speed estimation performance was on a comparable level. Different measures, such as subjective ratings, behavioral responses, performance, and physiological reactions, have been applied as presence indicators. These studies’ findings deliver evidence for the meaningful application of the proposed presence model in driving simulator settings. The results suggest that presence can be interpreted as a quality measure for perception in virtual environments. In line with psychocybernetic models, taking action, which is seen as controlling perception, enhances this quality even further. Describing the psychological construct of presence in a theoretical framework that takes the diversity of perception and action in driving simulator settings into account closes a gap in traffic psychological research. / Fahrsimulatoren sind leistungsfähige Forschungsinstrumente. Seit einigen Jahrzehnten konnte mit unzähligen Simulatorstudien zur Verkehrssicherheit beigetragen werden. Stetige Weiterentwicklungen der Simulatortechnologie machen einen Maßstab erforderlich, der es erlaubt, Fahrsimulatoren hinsichtlich ihrer Nützlichkeit für verkehrspsychologische Fragestellungen zu bewerten. Ein vielversprechendes in der Psychologie verwendetes Konstrukt ist Präsenz. Für gewöhnlich wird Präsenz als das Gefühl definiert, sich in einer entfernten bzw. virtuellen Umwelt zu befinden, die als real wahrgenommen wird. Ein weiterer Aspekt von Präsenz beschreibt die Fähigkeit in dieser Welt erfolgreich zu handeln. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, ein Präsenzmodell für die Anwendung im Fahrsimulatorbereich zu entwickeln. Dafür werden bereits etablierte Präsenzmodelle aufgegriffen, kombiniert und um bestimmte Komponenten erweitert. Dies zielt darauf ab ein umfassendes Präsenzmodell zu etablieren, welches einerseits einen Erklärungsansatz zur Entstehung von Präsenz liefert und andererseits erlaubt, Gestaltungsempfehlungen für Fahrsimulatoren abzuleiten. Die fünf Experimente dieser Arbeit untersuchen spezifische Modellkomponenten und deren Zusammenspiel. Alle Studien befassen sich mit dem Motorradfahren bzw. einem Motorradfahrsimulator als exemplarisches Anwendungsfeld. Die erste Studie verwendete ein Schätzverfahren für Geschwindigkeiten, um den Beitrag verschiedener Sinnesreize zu Präsenz zu untersuchen. Während der Visualisierung eine besondere Rolle zukommt, konnte die Präsenz durch die Hinzunahme weiterer sensorischer Stimuli in der virtuellen Welt noch gesteigert werden. Dabei wurden auditive, propriozeptive und vestibuläre Reize betrachtet. In der zweiten Studie wurde die Geschwindigkeitswahrnehmung mit Hilfe des Herstellungsverfahrens untersucht. Wie durch psychokybernetische Modelle vorhergesagt, hat sich die positive Auswirkung aktiven Handelns in der virtuellen Welt auf Präsenz bestätigt. Die dritte Studie befasste sich mit den Auswirkungen von Training auf Präsenz. Hier konnte jedoch kein positiver Zusammenhang festgestellt werden. Die vierte Studie zielte darauf ab, im Vorfeld gewonnene Erkenntnisse zur Vielfalt sensorischer Reize zu replizieren. Anstelle reiner Fahrzeuglängsregulation galt es, eine komplexere Fahrsituation zu bewältigen. Die Probanden mussten dabei mit ihrem virtuellen Motorrad einen unerwartet auftretenden tiefen Graben durchqueren. Der Beitrag vielfältiger sensorischer Stimulation auf Präsenz konnte auch in diesem Szenario erfolgreich gezeigt werden. Bei der letzten Studie handelte es sich um eine Realfahruntersuchung, die Referenzwerte zur Einordnung der Geschwindigkeitswahrnehmung im Motorradfahrsimulator lieferte. Außer höheren Schwankungen der Schätzwerte im Fahrsimulator bewegte sich die Güte der Schätzungen im Mittel auf einem vergleichbaren Niveau. Zur Messung von Präsenz wurden Befragungsdaten, Verhaltensmaße, Leistung und physiologische Reaktionen als Indikatoren herangezogen. Die Ergebnisse der Studien belegen die sinnvolle Anwendbarkeit des vorgeschlagenen Präsenzmodells in der Fahrsimulation. Darüber hinaus zeigt sich, dass Präsenz als ein Gütemaß für Wahrnehmung in virtuellen Welten interpretiert werden kann. Psychokybernetischen Modellen folgend kann diese Qualität durch Handeln, welches als Kontrolle der Wahrnehmung gesehen wird, noch weiter gesteigert werden. Durch die Integration des psychologischen Präsenzkonstrukts in ein Rahmenmodell, welches der Vielfalt von Wahrnehmung und Handlung in Fahrsimulatoren Rechnung trägt, konnte eine Lücke in der verkehrspsychologischen Forschung geschlossen werden.

The central theme of this thesis is the use of consultancy supervision among qualified practitioners of counselling psychology, counselling and psychotherapy. The research section in this portfolio consists of a report of the results of a survey into the use of consultancy supervision among Chartered Counselling Psychologists. The survey aimed to provide baseline descriptive data regarding the respondents' use of supervision as part of their continuing professional development, and their role as clinical supervisors to other practitioners. The research questionnaire consisted of 31 items yielding qualitative and quantitative data. It asked respondents about the length and kind of preparation they had for their roles as supervisors and sought their views and experiences on the most rewarding and stressful aspects of their work, their theoretical models of supervision, their training experiences, supervision of their supervision, and their opinions on the various tasks of supervision. The report concludes with some suggestions relating to the development of supervision training for counselling psychologists in the future. The case study focuses on supervised supervision with a practitioner with multiple roles in his work as a counselling services manager. The premise underlying it is that post-qualification supervision frequently demands a broader set of skills than training supervision, and in this case complex legal, ethical, competency, accountability and procedural issues arising in an organisational setting are addressed from a pluralistic theoretical perspective. The literature review focuses on the use of peer supervision among qualified practitioners with a view to answering some key questions. These relate to the kind of practitioners who use the format, the size and duration of peer groups, what they are used for, the stages that they go through, how to set up and run a group, and their advantages and disadvantages.

It has been suggested that, despite its increased centrality in the training of counsellors and counselling psychologists, personal development remains a poorly articulated area that suffers from a surprising scarcity of literature. The present study set out to investigate these claims and to begin to address this imbalance. A critical analysis of the literature identified four key areas: 1) the definition of personal development, 2) the facilitation of personal development, 3) the assessment of personal development and 4)the selection of trainees, in which complex but important questions remained. A mixed qualitative-quantitative methodology was used to investigate the views and experiences of UK counselling psychology trainers and trainees in relation to these key areas. Themes from a grounded theory analysis of 8 in-depth interviews enabled the articulation of a model of personal development and informed the development of a quantitative questionnaire survey instrument that was used to test and expand the interview findings. Eighty-eight respondents, comprising trainers and trainees from four training institutions, participated in the survey. Findings supported viewing personal development during training as a complex, broad and holistic concept and process that is affected by a diversity of personal and professional experiences, rather than as something that can be equated with the experience of personal therapy. Overall, views varied considerably amongst participants, and a significant difference was observed between the ways that trainers and trainees defined personal development. Many respondents reported feeling dissatisfied with course provisions; thinking that personal development was not adequately defined or integrated in training; that courses were too academic and not sufficiently experiential; and believing that improvements should be made to the way in which personal development is assessed during training and at selection. Differences in views and experiences were explained in terms of divergent conceptualisations of personal development and a variety of philosophical tensions. Implications for counselling psychology training were discussed, the methodology of the project evaluated and suggestions for further research proposed.

Introduction This portfolio focuses on the issues of power and ethics within relationship in the practice of counselling psychology. The impetus behind the work came from a desire to acknowledge that power is part of all relationships and as the practice of counselling psychology is based on relationship it would be interesting to explore the impact of the power dynamic within three different types of relationship contexts. The aim of the work is to explore relationships within counselling psychology in terms of power dynamics and consider the ethical issues and challenges that these may raise for counselling psychologists. The portfolio includes an exploration of three types of relationship that counselling psychologists are typically engaged with; the therapeutic relationship with the client, the supervisory relationship with the supervisee and the research relationship with the research participant. Each type of relationship is examined with a view to identifying how power is exercised and perceived and what challenges this raises for counselling psychologists in terms of ethical issues. Section A: Preface In the preface I firstly provide a summary of my career history to date and secondly an overview of the other three sections included in the portfolio. It is my aim to show consistency across the areas of my research and their relevance to the profession of counselling psychology. Section B: Research: An exploration of the dynamics of power within a therapeutic relationship. Section B comprises a report on a study into the dynamics of power within a therapeutic relationship. The purpose of the study was to identify strategies used within therapeutic discourse to manage the therapeutic relationship with particular reference to the dynamic of power. The study uses a micro-analytical technique to analyse the interaction between the therapist and client in one twenty minute film clip from a therapy session conducted by Dr Carl Rogers. The conclusions of the study suggest that communication between therapist and client occurs on a number of levels and serves a number of functions. One of these functions is to manage the power dynamic within the relationship. The methodology used in this study proves a useful tool for counselling psychologists to study process aspects of psychotherapy and the theoretical base in critical theory, post-modern philosophy and linguistics offers an additional body of knowledge which may enlighten our understanding of the therapeutic process. Section C Case work: Reflections on clinical supervision: an analysis of the supervisory relationship with three supervisees. Section C provides an analysis of three supervisory relationships experienced in my role as a clinical supervisor. This section continues the theme of relationship and explores the way in which counselling psychologists may function as supervisors within their professional context. Although there are many models of supervision within the literature, few of these are specifically relevant to counselling psychology. Supervision is a process with enormous influence in the training of professional therapists and it may be the case that as counselling psychologists we need to consider our responsibilities as supervisors in the development of the profession. Section D Critical Review of the Literature: Ethical Issues in interview based qualitative research in counselling psychology Section D concludes the portfolio with a literature review on ethical issues in qualitative research in counselling psychology, again highlighting the importance of relationship. This review focuses on the overlap between research and practice in counselling psychology. As scientist-practitioners counselling psychologists base their practice on research findings and in recent years there has been a growth in the use of qualitative methodologies within therapeutic research. In particular the qualitative interview has many similarities with a therapeutic interview and much of the literature reviewed presents this as a positive parallel. The review explores the similarities and differences between therapeutic and research relationships and the ethics of fading the boundary between the two.

According to the principles of evidence-based practice, offender treatment and rehabilitation programmes should target risk factors that are empirically related to offending behaviour. Research shows, however, that several theoretical risk factors for sexual offending fail to demonstrate consistent links with historical offending and/or rates of sexual recidivism. Chapter 1 discusses how the limitations of self-report assessment may contribute to this inconsistency and how alternative indirect assessment tools may help circumvent some of these issues by assessing more automated forms of cognition and being more resistant to impression management. Chapter 2 describes the methodology of the current investigation that was designed to examine whether use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) would provide greater empirical support for three psychosocial risk factors for sexual offending. Specifically, self-report and IAT measures of attachment, self-esteem, and child-sex implicit theories (ITs) were compared in their ability to predict offender status and/or scores on measures of estimated general and sexual recidivism risk. Chapters 3-5 describe the equivocal evidence surrounding the role of self-reported attachment, self-esteem, and child-sex ITs in sexual offending and how the IAT paradigm was adapted to assess each of these areas of psychosocial functioning. Across each chapter, the current findings replicated previous evidence demonstrating a lack of predictive validity for self-report measures in these domains. Furthermore, the results indicated that use of the current IAT measures did not improve prediction of group membership or estimated risk of recidivism. Chapter 6 describes how such findings suggest that the previous empirical inconsistency regarding these risk factors may not be entirely attributable to the limitations of relying on self-report assessment. With further replication and methodological refinement, the current findings could be taken as additional evidence against retaining these factors as criminogenic treatment needs within conventional sex offender treatment programmes.