How do trainees choose their first psychotherapy training? The case of training in psychotherapy integration

ABSTRACT

Future trainees go through difficult decision-making processes when starting their first psychotherapy training. The choice of training in psychotherapy integration is a specific type of this process. In this study, qualitative data were obtained from the motivational letters, in-depth semi-structured interviews and e-mail questionnaires of 26 future trainees to answer the research question, ‘How do trainees choose their first psychotherapy training?’ We primarily employed the grounded theory approach as well as consensual qualitative research to shed light on the central category of Gaining Certainty to enter the training. This category was elaborated into a four-phase model, specifically comprised of the: (1) Critical Comparison, (2) Identification, (3) Self-Confirmation and (4) Waiting phases. The model was then discussed in connection with relevant concepts, such as the degree of complexity and flexibility within the epistemological development of trainees [Vasco, A. B., & Dryden, W. (1994). The development of psychotherapists’ theoretical orientation and clinical practice. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 22(3), 327–341].

KEYWORDS:

• Trainee development
• psychotherapy integration
• choice of theoretical orientation
• decision-making process
• Gaining Certainty process

Acknowledgements

We thank the participants for their kind agreement to be part of this study. We thank our research team colleagues Ester Danelová, Jana Kostínková, Michal Čevelíček and Ivo Čermák for their scientific cooperation. This article is devoted by the first author to David Rennie in memoriam remembering his kindness, generosity and invaluable methodological advices.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Romana Plchová has a Master of Psychology from Masaryk University. She is currently completing her Postgraduate Diploma in the Reflecting-Responding Capacity of psychotherapy trainees. She has three years of experience as an elderly caregiver and one year as psychotherapist. Her research interests include team cooperation in bio-psycho-socio-spiritual care and life-span development.

Roman Hytych is a psychotherapist, trainer and assistant professor at the Department of Psychology.

Tomáš Řiháček is a psychotherapist, trainer and assistant professor at the Department of Psychology.

Jan Roubal is a psychiatrist, trainer and assistant professor at the Department of Psychology.

Zbyněk Vybíral is a professor and a head of the Department of Psychology.

Notes

1. For example, the GT research design was validated and a recommendation to apply embodied categorising was accepted after consultation with the late Canadian methodologist David Rennie in 2010. The recommendation to continue in our elaboration of the category called ‘decision-making to enter the training’ was received from Luis Castonguay in 2011. The consensual method of research was retrospectively confirmed as a suitable auxiliary procedure by Finnish researcher and methodologist Mikael Leiman in 2012.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the Czech Science Foundation Grant GAP 407/11/0141.