Researchers have addressed many clinician and client attributes in relation to the accuracy of judgments made by mental health professionals. One such moderator addressed clinicians’ judgment accuracy in relation to experience. Contrary to what many clinicians expect, a number of studies have failed to demonstrate a positive correlation between judgment accuracy and experience (e.g., Berman & Berman, 1984; Ruscio & Stern, 2005; Schinka & Sines, 1974). In Spengler et al. (2009), the relationship between judgment accuracy and experience was assessed via a largescale meta-analysis that examined studies of clinical judgment and experience from 1970 to 1996. The result was a small but reliable, homogeneous effect demonstrating a positive correlation between judgment accuracy and experience. The Spengler et al. meta-analysis found relatively few significant moderator effects influencing the experience-accuracy effect, namely the type of judgment made by clinicians, the criterion validity of accuracy measures used, and publication source. In the present study, results from clinical judgment and experience studies from 1997 to 2010 were combined in a meta-analysis. An update and extension allowed for cross-validation of the Spengler et al. meta-analysis with more recent research as well as an exploration of additional moderator variables, such as profession type and inclusion of non-mental health participants. The overall effect was .16, with a 95 percent confidence interval that was above zero (CI = .05 to .26). This overall effect indicated experience significantly impacted judgment accuracy, consistent with expectations. The overall effect was shown to be heterogeneous, indicating the Q statistic was sufficiently large to reject the null hypothesis regarding homogeneity of the effect size distribution. Exploratory analyses revealed the presence of two significant moderator variables, namely judgment type and publication source. Limitations included lack of variability of judgment type and difficulty with or complete inability to assess other potential moderators of interest, such as feedback and utilization of test protocols for the stimulus measure. Other limitations included utilization of a less exhaustive search strategy, in which some relevant studies may have been missed. Despite limitations, the results of the present metaanalysis largely replicated those of the Spengler et al. meta-analysis. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Clinical psychologists who have aligned themselves with critical community psychology (CCP) and/or who have implemented it in practice are in a minority (Boyle, 2011). The literature suggests significant difficulties and contradictions with such an orientation, but there is limited information available about the personal professional development and practice, of clinical psychologists who are interested in CCP. The aim of the current study was to develop an understanding of the social processes involved in clinical psychologists’ development of interest in CCP and how, if at all, this interest related to practice. Twenty clinical psychologists completed an online qualitative survey, of whom twelve were also interviewed. Social constructionist grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2014) informed the data collection and analysis. The findings formed five categories: ‘being drawn to CCP’ ‘navigating level of confidence’, ‘balancing clinical psychology and CCP’, ‘connecting with allies’ and ‘interacting with professional structures’. Findings are discussed in the context of existing empirical and theoretical literature.

No description available.

Yes / Community-Based Learning (CBL) has been more recently introduced into some psychology programmes in the UK than in the USA, where it has existed for a number of decades in the form of ‘service learning’. CBL holds promise as a means of promoting and developing critical community psychology practice, but there are risks involved in its acritical adoption in the psychology curriculum. If associated power dynamics are not considered, CBL has the capacity to serve neoliberal interests and perpetuate, rather than challenge, oppressive social relations. This article examines ways in which CBL can be both conducive and corrosive to critical community psychology practice. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature, it explores ways in which students participating in CBL can be vulnerable to exploitation – both as victims and perpetrators – through collusion and cultural voyeurism. Consideration is given to ways of resisting institutional and other pressures to comply uncritically with the demands of the ‘employability agenda’. These include the importance of facilitated reflective processes in associated modules, to consider aspects of the interactions of people and systems. The article concludes that whilst CBL is inherently risky and involves discomfort for students, this enables development of a more informed consciousness where truly participatory work evolves towards greater social justice.

Clinical leadership and compassionate care in the NHS have become priorities in influential papers and policies. There is a paucity of research to underpin conceptualisations of compassionate leadership and of leadership development in clinicians in the NHS, particularly clinical psychologists who may be able to lead in healthcare environments in unique ways due to the values and competencies of their profession. This present study sought to use a grounded theory approach to build a preliminary model of the transformational process of how clinical psychologists may evolve into compassionate leaders. Twelve clinical psychologists from varied specialities and with different years of experience took part in semi-structured qualitative interviews. Their data were analysed using a grounded theory methodology involving open, selective and theoretical coding. The findings indicate that psychologists may develop as leaders through their personalities and sense of mission, through reaching out to and being accepted by colleagues and through leading by doing. Participants who became compassionate in leadership seemed to be enabled by reflection, supervision and being treated with compassion. These findings are discussed with regard to extant theory and literature. Clinical and theoretical implications and a methodological critique are discussed.

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.

The informal breach of client confidentiality by psychologists was discussed in relation to various issues in professionalism and professional ethics, both in general and in the South African context. lnformal breaches of client confidentiality were identified as a common by under researched form of ethical malpractice, and nominated as the dependent variable in this study. Different emphases in ethical education were discussed in relation to various theories of moral thinking and moral action (particularly the 'levels' theory of moral thinking of R.M. Hare), and identified as an independent variable for the empirical portion of the study. A second independent variable, of countertransference responses by psychologists to clients, was also identified and discussed. A purpose-developed postal questionnaire was administered to a sample of South African clinical, counselling, and educational psychologists to assess the incidence of informal breaches of confidentiality in a South African sample, as well as the relationship between the variables. Although a high incidence of informal breaches of confidentiality was reported by the sample, and indirect support for Hare's levels theory of moral thinking found, the results did not demonstrate a significant relationship between the independent and dependent variables. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

This study examined three perspectives on ethical dimensions of South African professional psychology. These perspectives were derived from three data sets. The first data set comprised a series of public complaints against psychologists; the second a series of ethical dilemmas reported by psychologists themselves, and the third comprised a study of the training of South African psychologists in professional ethics. Clear patterns emerged in the analysis of each data set, and efforts were made to integrate the findings. Psychologists in particular registration categories, trained at particular universities and working in particular practice contexts were disproportionately more likely to attract complaints. Similarly, patterns of dilemmas experienced by psychologists also emerged. Comparison of complaints with dilemmas suggested that there were significant differences and some similarities in the ethical issues and contexts associated with public complaints and psychologists' own ethical dilemmas. The study of ethics training suggested general dissatisfaction with the relevance and quantity of ethics training nationally. The main findings were integrated to make recommendations for improving the ethics training of South African psychologists. The limitations of the data are described, along with suggestions for future research to examine in greater depth and specificity several dominant patterns described by the present study. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Clinical judgment faith bias is a hypothesized tendency for clinicians to make more pathological judgments for clients with socially nonnormative faith than for otherwise identical clients with socially normative faith. To test for clinical judgment faith bias, Dillman’s (2007) Tailored Design method for mail and internet surveys was employed. A random sample of 141 psychologists in clinical practice completed a series of questionnaires measuring clinician religiousness and spirituality, view of faith helpfulness, multicultural awareness and knowledge, and diagnostic and prognostic judgments of a clinical vignette describing a client with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and two manipulated attributes: magnitude of faith (low, moderate, or high) and type of faith (religious or spiritual). Five multivariate multiple regression analyses were conducted, with a series of follow-up multivariate tests. The results of the analyses were not significant. The magnitude of faith in the vignette did not influence the diagnostic or prognostic judgments of clinicians, clinicians did not make significantly different judgments for religious cases than for spiritual cases, and faith magnitude did not interact with faith type. Furthermore, clinician attributes did not appear to affect clinical judgments in any way. Implications are discussed for theory, research and clinical practice. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Background: Present literature highlights early years as an important phase of child development. Whilst Educational Psychologists have a role within early years, there is little research to state what this looks like and how it is conducted in practice. Therefore, this research considers the role an Educational Psychologist could take within an early years setting and explores the variety of work they could conduct. Participants: One early years setting from the researcher’s current Local Authority was used for this research. A total of 33 participants were involved including 11 early years staff, eight Educational Psychologists, 13 parents/carers and a Health Visitor. Methods: This study describes an academic year long Action Research (Tripp, 2003) project with the use of a Research and Development in Organisations framework (Timmins, Shepherd & Kelly, 2003). This included pre-model questionnaires, interviews with early years staff, a focus group with Educational Psychologists and a further focus group with early years staff in order to develop an initial model of educational psychology practice. Work was then completed by the researcher as part of the model of practice. Discrete pieces of work were evaluated via questionnaires, while the project as a whole was evaluated via post-model questionnaires, focus group, interview and researcher diary. Analysis/Findings: Quantitative data were summarised using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were transcribed and a thematic analysis applied. Within this study, the researcher developed a model of practice based on the needs of the setting that included being more frequently involved with casework and conducting work specifically aimed at supporting staff and parents/carers. Additionally, there were discrepancies found in the value placed by participants upon the different pieces of the work as well as the overall approach taken. Conclusion/Implications: This research suggests that there is a greater role for Educational Psychologists within early years, involving more than conducting casework but through providing a more holistic and intensive approach to supporting staff and parents/carers. This supports the existing limited literature as well as advocating a more extensive role for them within early intervention services.