Objective: To examine the discourses used by trainee and qualified clinical psychologists from the South West of England to manage discussions of spirituality and religion as they relate to clinical practice. Methods: Four focus groups were carried out with a total of 25 qualified and trainee clinical psychologists. Transcripts were analysed using discourse analysis. Results: Three key discourses were identified, giving insight into how cohorts of qualified and trainee clinical psychologists manage discussions of these difficult topics. These were: balancing medical and therapeutic discourses, particularly when discussing psychosis and religious or spiritual beliefs; positioning and the Other, including religion and spirituality as a proxy for talking about race; and negotiating what can or cannot be said, principally when sharing personal views. Conclusion: Ensuring that clinical psychologists have an awareness of the different discourses in use within the profession and how these may impact practice is important. Explicit discussion of the medical and therapeutic discourses likely to arise across different settings should be encouraged, including how these can constrain discussions around difficult topics such as spirituality and religion, race, and sexuality. Training should equip psychologists to have an awareness of othering, particularly in relation to religion or spirituality and race, and the potential effects this could have on power and engagement in therapy and broader work.

Background and objectives: A thesis is a requirement of the doctoral counselling psychology programme and plays an important role in forming an identity as a trainee counselling psychologist. While extensive research exists for doctorate experiences in general, less is known about the experiences of trainee counselling psychologists undertaking a thesis in the United Kingdom. The rationale behind this study is therefore to explore how trainee counselling psychologists perceive and make meaning of their experiences and how they go about writing their doctoral thesis. Method and analysis: A qualitative design was employed to answer the research question. Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with twenty trainee counselling psychologists who were either starting to write their thesis or at the stage of almost completing it. A grounded theory analysis was used in this study, which aims to generate a theory based on categories that have been discovered from the data. Several strategies were employed in this study to demonstrate the rigour and trustworthiness in a qualitative design. Findings: The results of this study show that two categories emerged from the data: (1) obstacles in completing a thesis and (2) positive perspective towards undertaking a thesis. The theory that emerged from this study shows that trainee counselling psychologists have both positive and negative experiences which appear to fluctuate during the process of undertaking a thesis and vary from person to person due to individual circumstances. It is vital not to envisage a dichotomy between the positive and negative experiences, which form a natural and necessary journey for all doctoral students. Conclusions: The trainee counselling psychologists' experiences of undertaking a thesis can be viewed as an emotional and multifaceted journey. Overall, the shared experiences of trainee counselling psychologists undertaking a doctoral thesis was a valuable contribution to this study. The paper discusses avenues for further research alongside some practical recommendations that might be useful for trainee counselling psychologists undertaking a doctoral thesis.

Participants from earlier nationwide studies on predictors of internship match were contacted 7-10 years after obtaining their doctoral degree to gather additional data concerning their attained early career competencies and benchmarks (e.g., scores on the national licensing exam). In this sample (N = 190), licensure exam scores were significantly positively associated with scores obtained on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), family of origin socioeconomic status, and student debt load. However, obtained licensure scores were not found to be significantly associated with any pre-doctoral training variables (e.g., intervention/ assessment hours, number of integrated reports, number of publications, rank order of matched internship site) or most post-doctoral early career activities. Weak positive associations between licensures scores and engaging in teaching / supervision / consultation services were observed. Few self-reported early career competencies were found to be weakly positively associated with scores on the national licensing exam (i.e., integrity, seeking supervision, scientific mindedness, evidence-based practice). Significantly inverse associations were found between national licensing exam scores and self-reported competencies in the areas of management and systems change. Findings are discussed and implications for the national licensing exam considered.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-05-13T17:40:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 marcelagouveaguedes.pdf: 1144106 bytes, checksum: 5eea940bf4cfc78f19c6caecf918898d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-06-27T21:18:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 marcelagouveaguedes.pdf: 1144106 bytes, checksum: 5eea940bf4cfc78f19c6caecf918898d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-27T21:18:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marcelagouveaguedes.pdf: 1144106 bytes, checksum: 5eea940bf4cfc78f19c6caecf918898d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-18 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação versa acerca da inserção da psicologia no âmbito da política de assistência social. Objetivou compreender os discursos sobre as práticas dos/as psicólogos/as e as posições de sujeito produzidas no âmbito da política de assistência social em Juiz de Fora/MG. Tal pesquisa se justifica dada a criação recente da Política Nacional de Assistência Social (PNAS), que possibilitou por meio do Sistema Único de Assistência Social (SUAS), a inserção de profissionais de psicologia para atuar em meio às vulnerabilidades sociais e às violações de direitos. Foi desenvolvido um estudo de abordagem qualitativa em que foram entrevistados/as psicólogos/as dos Centros de Referência de Assistência Social (CRAS) e dos Centros de Referência Especializado de Assistência Social (CREAS). Como referencial metodológico e analítico foi utilizada a Análise do Discurso Foucauldiana, cuja investigação genealógica possibilitou identificar as posições de sujeito, as condições dos acontecimentos discursivos e os jogos de saber/poder nas práticas de psicologia desenvolvidas nos equipamentos socioassistenciais, bem como possibilitou analisar os discursos presentes em alguns documentos governamentais e dos Conselhos Federais de Psicologia e de Serviço Social, os quais buscam fornecer parâmetros e orientações para atuação no âmbito da política de assistência social. Os resultados apontam para uma prática ainda em construção e, portanto, que possui inúmeros desafios. Assim, verificamos uma indefinição do lugar da psicologia na política de assistência social, em que o debate acerca da especificidade versus generalização da atuação é apresentado e discutido. Outro aspecto importante que esta pesquisa evidenciou refere-se ao debate acerca da escuta clínica como diferencial do/a profissional de psicologia, bem como uma tendência a uma atuação mais individualizante e descontextualizada, que busca trabalhar o indivíduo e a família, desconsiderando os aspectos macroestruturais que mantém a desigualdade social. A pesquisa evidenciou o quão desafiador é atuar na assistência social haja vista a falta de condições materiais e estruturais para a realização do trabalho, o que demonstra uma falta de vontade política e uma negligência do Estado quando se trata de políticas públicas sociais. Portanto, identifica-se uma necessidade de se pensar em novas psicologias, que se abram para conhecimentos além do campo psi e consigam, efetivamente, construir saberes e fazeres que promovam resistência ao modelo capitalista de produção de desigualdades sociais e alterações significativas nas condições de vida das pessoas que buscam a proteção social. / This dissertation examine the psychology insertion in Social Assistance Policy. It aimed at understanding the discourse about the practices psychologists and the subject positions produced in the social assistance policy in Juiz de Fora/MG. The research is justified by the recent establishment of the National Social Assistance Policy (PNAS), that became possible because of the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS), the inclusion of psychology professionals to work among social vulnerability and infringement of rights. It was developed a qualitative study that consisted in an interview with psychologists from Social Assistance Reference Centers (CRAS) and Specialized Reference Centers of Social Assistance (CREAS). As a methodological and analytical reference it was used the Discourse Analysis Foucault, whose genealogical research enabled us to identify the subject positions, the conditions of discursive events and game knowledge/power in Psychology practices developed in Social Assistance equipment as well as the possibility of analyzing the speeches present in some government documents and the Federal Councils of Psychology and Social Work, which seek to provide parameters and guidelines for action in the Social Assistance Policy. The results point to a practice still under construction and therefore it has many challenges. Thus, we see a blurring of the place of psychology in social assistance policy, which the debate about the specificity versus generalization of performance is presented and discussed. Another important aspect of this research refers to the debate about the clinic listening as a differential of the professional of psychology as well as a trend individualized and decontextualized action, which seeks to address the individual and the family, disregarding the macro-structural aspects that keeps social inequality. The research highlights how challenging it is to act on Social Assistance considering the lack of material and structural conditions for carrying out the work, which shows a lack of political and a State neglect when it comes to Social Publics Policies. Therefore, the research identifies a need of thinking new psychologies, opened to the knowledge beyond Psychology practices field. Besides the new psychologies have to be able to effectively build knowledge and practices that promote resistance to the capitalist model of production of social inequalities and significant changes in conditions lives of people who seek social protection.

Text in English / The inception of psychology as a practicing profession in 1938 brought with it a continuing scientific struggle geared towards cementing its place as a value-adding health service in the form of psychotherapy. Concepts such as Empirically Supported Treatments (ESTs), Evidence Based Treatments (EBTs) and Evidence Based Practice in Psychology (EBPP) arose out of research attempts to scientifically prove the efficacy of psychological treatment versus psychiatric medications or versus no treatment. This focus on evidence in psychotherapy partly stems from, but also influences public policy in the form of practice and training mandates as well as government and insurance funding policies for psychotherapy. At present ESTs, EBTs and EBPP are the source of polarisation among psychologists who argue for either sides of this controversy, raising questions on a practical/policy level as well as an epistemological level. This thesis differentiates between ESTs, EBTs and EBPP as well as the Common Factors approach and continues to critically investigate the advantages, practical/policy implications and epistemological critiques against these approaches. Some of the identified shortfalls resulting from unwarranted epistemological (empirical) assumptions are addressed by proposing a social constructionist model of therapeutic factors based on social constructionist- and eco-systemic theories. The proposed model allows therapists to employ EBT’s in conjunction with various other (excluded) approaches that are available in their arsenal of treatments. Clinical case studies are used to illustrate the model’s practical operation in therapeutic contexts. / Psychology / Ph.D. (Psychology)

Text in English / The inception of psychology as a practicing profession in 1938 brought with it a continuing scientific struggle geared towards cementing its place as a value-adding health service in the form of psychotherapy. Concepts such as Empirically Supported Treatments (ESTs), Evidence Based Treatments (EBTs) and Evidence Based Practice in Psychology (EBPP) arose out of research attempts to scientifically prove the efficacy of psychological treatment versus psychiatric medications or versus no treatment. This focus on evidence in psychotherapy partly stems from, but also influences public policy in the form of practice and training mandates as well as government and insurance funding policies for psychotherapy. At present ESTs, EBTs and EBPP are the source of polarisation among psychologists who argue for either sides of this controversy, raising questions on a practical/policy level as well as an epistemological level. This thesis differentiates between ESTs, EBTs and EBPP as well as the Common Factors approach and continues to critically investigate the advantages, practical/policy implications and epistemological critiques against these approaches. Some of the identified shortfalls resulting from unwarranted epistemological (empirical) assumptions are addressed by proposing a social constructionist model of therapeutic factors based on social constructionist- and eco-systemic theories. The proposed model allows therapists to employ EBT’s in conjunction with various other (excluded) approaches that are available in their arsenal of treatments. Clinical case studies are used to illustrate the model’s practical operation in therapeutic contexts. / Psychology / Ph.D. (Psychology)