Latest DP research.

This is a review of the existing literature on Deliberate Practice for the acquisition of therapy skills. From the promise to the challenges ahead, this I a good place to start for those looking to go deeper into the existing research.

Reference: Mahon, D. (2022). A scoping review of deliberate practice in the acquisition of therapeutic skills and practices. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research.

Bottom line of this paper: It took time for students to internalise principles of deliberate practice. They reported a wide range of deliberate practice learning activities, both within and beyond the classroom, and regarded these tasks as having made a significant positive contribution to their learning.

Reference: McLeod, J. (2021). How students use deliberate practice during the first stage of counsellor training. Couns Psychother Res. 00:1– 12. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12397

Bottom line of this paper: results from a controlled trial with a four-month follow-up suggests that deliberate practice enhances acquisition of skills related to Motivational Interviewing.

Reference: Henny, A.W., Norouszian, N., Poulin, L., Hara, K., Coyne, A., Constantino, M.J., Olson, D., & Antony, M.M. (2021). Testing a Deliberate Practice Workshop for Developing Appropriate Responsivity to Resistance Markers. Psychotherapy.

Bottom line of this paper: a good summary of some concerns that DP research needs to address.

Reference: Clements-Hickman, A. L., & Reese, R. J. (2020). Improving Therapists’ Effectiveness: Can Deliberate Practice Help?. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pro0000318

Bottom line of this paper: results from a controlled trial with four month follow-up suggest that deliberate practice helped therapists acquire skills related to Motivational Interviewing (MI).

Reference: Di Bartolomeo, A., Shukla, S., Westra, H., Ghashghaei, N. & Olson, D. (2020). Rolling with resistance: A client language analysis of deliberate practice in continuing education for psychotherapists. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. 1-9. 10.1002/capr.12335.

Bottom line of this paper: One-day psychological skills training significantly improved cancer staff confidence in the assessment of anxiety and depression, and the delivery of brief psychological interventions.

Reference: Barrett‐Naylor, R., Malins, S., Levene, J., Biswas, S., Mays, C., & Main, G. (2020). Brief Training In Psychological Assessment And Interventions Skills For Cancer Care Staff: A Mixed Methods Evaluation Of Deliberate Practice Techniques. Psycho‐Oncology.

Reference: Rosén, E. (2019). Learning how to learn: Psychology Trainees’ Self-compassion while implementing Deliberate Practice, with FIT at a Psychotherapy Training Clinic.

bottom line of this study: a workshop focusing on alliance-focused training (AFT) and facilitative interpersonal skills (FIS) using deliberate practice lead to a marginally higher post-intervention level of overall therapeutic skills, and significantly higher levels of the specifically targeted therapist skills.

Reference: Perlman, M. R., Anderson, T., Foley, V. K., Mimnaugh, S., & Safran, J. D. (2020). The impact of alliance-focused and facilitative interpersonal relationship training on therapist skills: An RCT of brief training. Psychotherapy Research, 1-14.

Reference: Anderson T, Perlman MR, McCarrick S, McClintock A. (2019). Modeling therapist responses with structured practice enhances facilitative interpersonal skills. J. Clin Psychol. 2019;1–17. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22911

Reference: Hill, C. E., Kivlighan, D. M., Rousmaniere, T., Kivlighan, D. M., Gerstenblith, J. A., & Hillman, J. W. (2019). Deliberate practice for the skill of immediacy: A multiple case study of doctoral student therapists and clients. Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.).

Reference: Goldberg, S. B., Babins-Wagner, R., Rousmaniere, T., Berzins, S., Hoyt, W. T., Whipple, J. L., ... & Wampold, B. E. (2016). Creating a climate for therapist improvement: A case study of an agency focused on outcomes and deliberate practice. Psychotherapy, 53(3), 367.

Reference: Chow, D. L., Miller, S. D., Seidel, J. A., Kane, R. T., Thornton, J. A., & Andrews, W. P. (2015). The role of deliberate practice in the development of highly effective psychotherapists. Psychotherapy, 52(3), 337.

Our very own Arndt Linsenhoff had written an excellent article on Deliberate Practice for german speakers, Find it here!