![Sample our Behavioral Sciences journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110801/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Behavioral-Sciences.jpg"})
Abstract
Aim: The increasing importance of integrative practice highlights the need to explore how trainees develop their theoretical stance. This investigation explored the experiences of trainees to elaborate a model of how they developed their personal theories of practice. Method: Seventeen Masters level trainee counsellors kept weekly journals recording how they developed a working theory of practice. Grounded theory analysis of the journals was used to develop a model of the process. Findings: The resulting Process Model of Tentative Identifications illustrates how a personal theory developed through trainees' tentative identifications with theories of practice, and how factors such as reading, personal philosophy, practice, and supervision interact to produce the identifications. A diagram of the model highlights the relationships among a variety of personal and professional factors that ranged from highly abstract to concrete and practice-based. Discussion: The model is consistent with several factors identified in previous research and highlights how trainees develop working theories of practice.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the trainees who contributed their journals for analysis.