Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Psychology (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Mark Terjesen

Second Advisor

Raymond DiGiuseppe

Third Advisor

Wilson McDermut

Abstract

Though competency is of utmost importance to clinical practice (Muse et al., 2022), there have been minimal studies that have explored the relationship between clinician-perceived competency and expert-rated competency with the REBT framework. Competency in the delivery of psychotherapy is expected, but not well-defined (Fairburn & Cooper, 2011). Differences between perceived competency and expert-rated competency (Paunov et al., 2023) create further challenges in defining competency. While clinical competency in psychotherapy provision has been linked to client outcomes, this relationship varies depending on clinical model of psychotherapy as well as clinical problem (Collyer et al., 2020). Most of the competency in psychotherapy research focuses on adults and on Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Rapley & Loades, 2018). This study aimed to extend this research in examining psychotherapy competency in the utilization of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) in work with youth with anxiety in a simulated clinical setting. Clinicians with varying degrees of training in REBT responded to five video-based vignettes using the clinical training software, Skillsetter and were asked to respond to clients demonstrating many of the core features of REBT. Experts in REBT rated their responses and participants also rated the skills being assessed. There was some variability in terms of skill ratings and a small correlation was found between self-perceived ratings and expert-coded ratings. Limitations of the current study, future direction, and implications for the field of school psychology and for those engaging in psychotherapy are discussed.

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