Psychotherapy Skills for Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Students in the Age of Competency-Based Education.

ABSTRACT: As the field of nursing moves toward competency-based education, faculty need to adapt teaching and learning strategies to meet standards for assessing core behaviors of graduate psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner students. This article reviews a psychotherapy skills-based learning assignment at Frontier Nursing University that was adapted to meet developing competency-based learning standards. The assignment utilizes prerecorded video scenarios to provide students with opportunities to reinforce psychotherapy skills during didactic coursework. Assessment is conducted via an analytic rubric and specific feedback is given to each student in writing.

Learning Outcomes of e-Learning in Psychotherapy Training and Comparison With Conventional Training Methods: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Mental disorders pose a major public health problem in most western countries. The demand for services for common mental health disorders has been on the rise despite the widespread accessibility of medication. Especially, the supply and demand for evidence-based psychotherapy do not align. Large-scale increase of modern psychotherapy is difficult with current methods of training which are often expensive, time consuming, and dependent on a small number of top-level professionals as trainers. E-learning has been proposed to enhance psychotherapy training accessibility, quality, and scalability. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to provide an overview of the current evidence regarding e-learning in psychotherapy training. In particular, the review examines the usability, acceptability, and learning outcomes associated with e-learning. Learning outcomes are assessed in different modalities including trainee experiences, knowledge acquisition, skill acquisition, and application of trained content in daily practice. Furthermore, the equivalence of web-based training and conventional training methods is evaluated. METHODS: Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a search from Ovid, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Scopus databases between 2008 and June 2022 was conducted. Inclusion criteria required studies to describe e-learning systems for psychotherapy training and assess acceptability, feasibility, or learning outcomes. The risk of bias was evaluated for both randomized and nonrandomized studies. Learning outcomes were categorized using the Kirkpatrick model. Effect sizes comparing e-learning and traditional methods were calculated. RESULTS: The search yielded 3380 publications, of which 34 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Positive learning outcomes are generally associated with various e-learning programs in psychotherapy training including trainee satisfaction, knowledge, and skill acquisition, and in application of trained content in clinical practice. Learning outcomes generally show equivalence between e-learning and conventional training methods. The overall effect size, indicating this disparity, was 0.01, suggesting no significant difference. This literature displays a high level of heterogeneity in e-learning solutions and assessment methods. CONCLUSIONS: e-Learning seems to have good potential to enhance psychotherapy training by increasing access, scalability, and cost-effectiveness while maintaining quality in terms of learning outcomes. Results are congruent with findings related to e-learning in health education in general where e-learning as a pedagogy is linked to an opportunity to carry out learner-centric practices. Recommendations for conducting psychotherapy training programs in blended settings supported by activating learning methods are presented. However, due to the heterogeneity and limitations in the existing literature, further research is necessary to replicate these findings and to establish global standards for e-learning, as well as for the assessment of training outcomes in psychotherapy education. Research is especially needed on the effects of training on patient outcomes and optimal ways to combine e-learning and conventional training methods in blended learning settings.

Pilot study of implementing Managing and Adapting Practice in a German psychotherapy master's program.

Despite a significant accumulation of research, there has been little systemic implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP) in youth mental health care. The fragmentation of the evidence base complicates implementation efforts. In light of this challenge, we sought to pilot a system that consolidates and coordinates the entire evidence base in a single direct service model (i.e., Managing and Adapting Practice; MAP) in the context of a legal reform of psychotherapy training in Germany. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of the implementation of MAP into the curriculum of the reformed German master's program. Eligible participants were students in the master's program at Philipps-University Marburg during the winter-term 2022/2023. Students first learned about MAP through introductions and role plays (seminar 1), followed by actively planning and conducting interventions using MAP resources for patients in a case seminar under supervision (seminar 2). A repeated-measures survey was conducted to investigate students' knowledge gains, perception of MAP and changes in their self-rated confidence to use EBP. Results indicated that students perceive MAP to be manageable to learn. Positive progress was achieved with regard to their knowledge and self-reported confidence to use EBP, although interpretation and generalization of the results are limited by small and homogeneous samples, lack of statistical power and missing comparison groups. The feasibility of the implementation and suitability of measures are discussed. Important implications could be drawn with regard to future investigations.

Meaning-centered psychotherapy training program for cancer care clinicians: Efficacy and impact of the first 5 years.

Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP) is a manualized, evidence-based intervention designed to help cancer patients to find meaning and alleviate distress. Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy Training (MCPT) is a multicomponent program for cancer care clinicians that consists of didactics, group experiential learning, and role-plays with simulated patients to learn MCP and acquire skills to deliver it in real-world oncology settings. The efficacy and impact of MCPT for multidisciplinary cancer care clinicians to learn and disseminate MCP is described and evaluated. A multilevel evaluation based on the RE-AIM framework was utilized to assess the efficacy of the MCPT program over the initial 5 years of the program. The outcomes of the evaluation supported MCPT goals. Three hundred forty-two participants attended MCPT. Overall satisfaction measured in the post-training assessment was high. Significant increases in MCP skills were demonstrated by participants over the course of the role-play sessions, and participants showed significant improvements in pre/post-training MCP knowledge assessment scores, as well as significant increases in self-reported overall MCP skills and core competencies. Follow-up survey responses indicate that MCP trainees were utilizing MCP, had made changes to their clinical practice, and progressed on individual implementation goals. During the first 5 years, the MCPT program was successfully developed, established, implemented, and shown to be effective in the dissemination of MCP across the RE-AIM domains. Future directions for training and implementation research include increasing diversity of providers and investigating the impact of the program on patient outcomes.

Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP) is a manualized brief intervention designed to help cancer patients to find meaning and alleviate distress. Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy Training (MCPT) is a program for cancer care clinicians, consisting of lectures, group exercises, and practice with simulated patients to learn MCP and the skills to deliver it in real-world oncology settings. Participants were evaluated with a multi-assessment approach to establish the efficacy and impact of the program over the initial 5 years. Results demonstrated that the MCPT program met its goals. In total, 342 clinicians from diverse clinical and geographic cancer settings attended. Overall satisfaction with the training after participation in MCPT was high. Significant increases in MCP skills were demonstrated by participants over the course of the practice sessions, participants showed significant improvements in MCP knowledge assessment scores, as well as in self-reported overall MCP skills and core competencies. Surveys sent at 3, 6, and 12 months after participation indicated that most trainees were utilizing MCP, changed their clinical practice, and made progress on their training goals. During the first 5 years, the MCPT program was successfully developed, implemented, and shown to be effective to facilitate the dissemination of MCP for wider use in clinical settings.

The power of virtual connections: A randomized controlled trial of online positive psychotherapy training on effective communication skills of nursing students.

AIM: This research aimed to assess the impact of the online "Positive Psychotherapy- Based Key Model of Courtesy and Integrity" (KMCI)" program on the effective communication skills of nursing students. BACKGROUND: With the growing integration of virtual platforms in psychotherapy education, there is a burgeoning interest in understanding their influence on nursing student's communication abilities. Recognizing how online positive psychotherapy education shapes these skills is pivotal for enriching nursing education and practice. DESIGN: The study adopted a pre-test-post-test randomized controlled design and involved 64 undergraduate nursing students from a state university's nursing department during the 2021-2022 academic year, all enrolled in psychiatric nursing courses. METHODS: Students were divided into experimental and control groups through simple randomization. Pre-tests, encompassing a "Personal Information Form" and an "Effective Communication Skills Scale," were administered to both groups. Subsequently, the experimental group received the "Positive Psychotherapy- Based Key Model of Courtesy and Integrity" program online for five weeks, while no intervention was provided to the control group during this period. Post-tests were then conducted for both groups after five weeks. RESULTS: The findings revealed a significant increase (p<0.05) in the total scores of sub-dimensions, including "Ego-Enhancing Language, Active Listening, Self-Disclosure and Recognition, Empathy and Self-Language Scale" in the experimental group in both intra-group and inter-group comparisons. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the "Positive Psychotherapy- Based Key Model of Courtesy and Integrity" program effectively enhances practical communication skills among nursing students. Equipping students with the ability to integrate courtesy and integrity isn't effective.

A pilot study evaluating online training for therapist delivery of interpersonal psychotherapy for eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) often do not receive evidence-based care, such as interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), partly due to lack of accessible training in these treatments. The standard method of training (i.e., in-person workshops) is expensive and time consuming, prompting a need for more scalable training tools. The primary aim of this pilot and open trial was to examine the effects of an IPT online training platform on training outcomes (i.e., IPT fidelity, knowledge, and acceptance) and, secondarily, whether online training was different from in-person training (using a comparative sample from a separate study) in terms of training outcomes and patient symptoms. METHOD: Participants were therapists (N = 60) and student patients (N = 42) at 38 college counseling centers. Therapists completed baseline questionnaires and collected data from a student patient with ED symptoms. Therapists then participated in an IPT online training program and completed post-training assessments. RESULTS: Following online training, acceptance of evidence-based treatments, therapist knowledge of IPT, therapist acceptance of IPT, and treatment fidelity increased; acceptance of online training was high at baseline and remained stable after training. Using the 90% confidence interval on outcome effect sizes, results suggested IPT online training was not different from in-person training on most outcomes. Results are based on 60% of therapists who originally enrolled due to high dropout rate of therapist participants. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this preliminary pilot study support the use of IPT online training, which could increase access to evidence-based ED treatment and improve patient care. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: Lack of accessible therapist training has contributed to many therapists not delivering, and therefore many patients not receiving, evidence-based treatment. This study evaluated a highly disseminable online training and compared outcomes to traditional in-person training and found that training and patient outcomes were not different. Online training has the potential to enhance access to evidence-base care, which could in turn optimize patient outcomes.

Implementing a whole-of-service stepped care approach to personality disorder treatment: Impact of training and service redesign on clinician attitudes and skills.

Personality disorders are a highly prevalent mental health condition. Historically, clinician attitudes have been negative, and only a small number have specialised training. This study evaluated clinician attitudes and confidence in working with people with personality disorder following the combination of training and implementation of a stepped care whole-of-service approach. A total of 102 multidisciplinary mental health clinicians were trained to implement the stepped care approach, and completed surveys prior to implementation and at 12 months follow up. Clinicians delivered manualised structured psychological therapy as part of the model. Measures assessed changes in attitudes and confidence, and impact of the service changes and therapy approach. Qualitative responses elucidated core themes. Evaluation at 12 months post training and service redesign showed improvements in clinician skills, confidence, theoretical knowledge and attitudes. Qualitative thematic analysis found core themes of improved understanding, clinical skills and improvements in the accessibility and timeliness of treatment. Implementing a whole-of-service model featuring stepped care therapies enhanced clinician attitudes, confidence, skills and knowledge in working with people with personality disorders. Clinicians identified that the whole-of-service model also improved accessibility to treatment, and quality of clinical care to the consumer and their carers.

[Dealing with Lived Crisis Experience During Self-Experience: A Standardized Survey in Psychiatric Hospitals in Berlin and Brandenburg]. / Umgang mit eigenen Krisenerfahrungen in der Selbsterfahrung: Eine standardisierte Befragung in psychiatrischen Einrichtungen in Berlin und Brandenburg.

OBJECTIVE: The current study follows the question if psychotherapists with lived experiences of crisis and treatment address these experiences during their processes of self-experience. Further, the conceptual differentiation between self-experience and psychotherapy of this group of staff is explored. METHODS: 108 professionals with psychotherapeutic qualification were surveyed on their training self-experience. Relationships between processing of crisis experiences, crises frequency, and experienced benefit were analyzed using correlation analyses. Conceptual differences between self-experience and psychotherapy were gauged via nine content categories whose importance for self-experience and psychotherapy were rated by the participants. The means of these ratings were compared via t-test. RESULTS: Most participants reported that they had used their self-experience to process lived crisis experiences, and that they benefited from their self-experience, with processing and benefit being correlated significantly and positively. Conceptual differentiation of the two formats appeared to be complex. Participants ascribed biographical and personal categories rather to psychotherapy, and professional categories to self-experience. DISCUSSION: Given the prevalence of stigmatization towards individuals with mental health problems, it was surprising that most of the participants were able to address and process their lived experiences during their self-experience. It was surprising too that personal factors were ascribed to psychotherapy rather than self-experience, as the major importance of the therapeutic relationship and, by extension, personality development is well-known. CONCLUSION: Training self-experience should be a stigma-free setting, where future therapists are able to address their biographical burdens freely and thereby develop their personalities.

The Virtual Couch: a Curriculum on the Question of the Fundamentals of Remote Psychotherapy-Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVE: With a rise in remote clinical practice related to the COVID-19 pandemic, a novel remote psychotherapy curriculum was presented to psychiatry residents and fellows to address the urgent need to teach trainees how to adapt traditional psychotherapy skills to telepsychiatry settings. METHODS: Trainees completed a survey before and after receiving the curriculum to assess remote psychotherapy skills and areas for growth. RESULTS: Eighteen trainees (24% fellows, 77% residents) completed the pre-curriculum survey, and 28 trainees (26% fellows, 74% residents) completed the post-curriculum survey. Thirty-five percent of pre-curriculum participants indicated no experience with remote psychotherapy. Technology (24%) and patient engagement (29%) were identified as the greatest challenges in providing teletherapy pre-curriculum. Content related to patient care (69%) and technology (31%) was of most interest to pre-curriculum participants and identified as most helpful post-curriculum (53% and 26%, respectively). After receiving the curriculum, most trainees planned to make internal, provider-related changes to their remote teletherapy practice. CONCLUSIONS: The remote psychotherapy curriculum was well received by psychiatry trainees who had limited experience with remote clinical practice prior to the pandemic.

Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis in Indonesia.

Indonesia, a country with a vast population of approximately 275 million people on over 17,000 islands, currently has 1,221 psychiatrists nationwide. Psychodynamic psychiatry and psychoanalysis are integral to the practice of psychiatry in Indonesia, primarily because of the charismatic influence of Bachtiar Lubis, who trained in Canada in the early 1960s. Upon his return to Indonesia, Bachtiar Lubis supervised a generation of psychiatrists, including two of this article's authors, who carried on his pedagogical work. The psychodynamic model and treatments have faced obstacles limiting their acceptance in Indonesia, including importing a Western model that has not been culturally adapted to treat patients in the East, the stigma of mental illness in local communities, and the complex comorbidities of persons who seek psychiatric care. Psychodynamic psychotherapy in Indonesia is presently taught in university-based residency programs for eight semesters. A psychodynamic psychotherapy competency-based curriculum was adopted nationwide. The dissemination of psychotherapy knowledge and skills is greatly assisted by an active psychiatric professional association-the Indonesian Psychiatric Association Psychotherapy Section, a member society of the World Federation for Psychotherapy. The authors propose international and regional academic collaborations to maintain enthusiasm among trainees and improve quality of care.

Trainee psychotherapists' emotion recognition accuracy during 1.5 years of psychotherapy education compared to a control group: no improvement after psychotherapy training.

The ability to recognize and work with patients' emotions is considered an important part of most psychotherapy approaches. Surprisingly, there is little systematic research on psychotherapists' ability to recognize other people's emotional expressions. In this study, we compared trainee psychotherapists' nonverbal emotion recognition accuracy to a control group of undergraduate students at two time points: at the beginning and at the end of one and a half years of theoretical and practical psychotherapy training. Emotion recognition accuracy (ERA) was assessed using two standardized computer tasks, one for recognition of dynamic multimodal (facial, bodily, vocal) expressions and one for recognition of facial micro expressions. Initially, 154 participants enrolled in the study, 72 also took part in the follow-up. The trainee psychotherapists were moderately better at recognizing multimodal expressions, and slightly better at recognizing facial micro expressions, than the control group at the first test occasion. However, mixed multilevel modeling indicated that the ERA change trajectories for the two groups differed significantly. While the control group improved in their ability to recognize multimodal emotional expressions from pretest to follow-up, the trainee psychotherapists did not. Both groups improved their micro expression recognition accuracy, but the slope for the control group was significantly steeper than the trainee psychotherapists'. These results suggest that psychotherapy education and clinical training do not always contribute to improved emotion recognition accuracy beyond what could be expected due to time or other factors. Possible reasons for that finding as well as implications for the psychotherapy education are discussed.

Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis in Thailand.

The authors provide an overview of psychiatry and psychodynamic psychotherapy in Thailand, including a discussion of practice patterns, trends, and the cultural context of the delivery of psychotherapy services in this Southeast Asian country. They discuss a way forward in psychodynamic psychotherapy training that is collaborative, self-sustaining, and leads to competence. They address how to culturally adapt psychodynamic psychotherapy and suggest areas of research that would advance the field. Lastly, they discuss psychodynamic pedagogical strategies that may be acceptable and effective in underserved areas.

Senior Resident as Junior Supervisor: Case Report of an Apprenticeship Model for Training Psychotherapy Supervisors.

Psychotherapy supervision is an essential component of graduate medical education in psychiatry. However, most psychotherapy supervisors have never had training specific to supervision, and the requisite skills have received little attention in the literature. The authors of this article describe the first year of a pilot project that was aimed at fostering interest and skill in psychotherapy supervision among senior residents. In this model, a postgraduate year (PGY)-4 resident supervised a PGY-2 resident's psychodynamic psychotherapy while receiving supervisory support from a senior faculty member. Feedback from the two residents and the residency program director was positive. The PGY-2 resident reported benefiting from near-peer supervision. The PGY-4 resident continued to supervise residents after graduation and felt well prepared to assume that role. The residency program continued to use this model after the pilot period. Other training programs can replicate this model to nurture the next generation of psychotherapy supervisors.

A guide to support trainee's success in the psychotherapy written case submission.

OBJECTIVE: Many trainees find the Psychotherapy Written Case (PWC) requirement of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists training program challenging. The skills developed and assessed through this experience are critical to the competencies expected of a psychiatrist. However, the process of psychodynamic psychotherapy is often dramatically different from the expectations associated with early clinical placements in acute psychiatric settings. To support trainees in achieving success in the PWC, a guide to the written report was developed based on a review of existing resources and various stakeholder perspectives. CONCLUSIONS: The submission should reflect a training case rather than an idealised or fictionalised story attempting to demonstrate the therapist's competence. The PWC submission must meet the requirements of a general psychiatric report and provide a considered reflection on the experience of the novice therapist.