An Evaluation of the Practice Element Response Form in a Sample of Preservice Trainees

ABSTRACT

Modal public sector in-service provider trainings tend to inadequately prepare therapists for effective evidence-based practice (EBP) delivery. To address this issue, some dissemination and implementation efforts have slowly turned to investigating and potentially improving preservice training, as doing so may provide a venue for ongoing training and competency evaluation. This investigation aimed to further study the psychometric properties of the Practice Element Response Form (PERForm), a vignette-prompted, open-ended response measure of procedural knowledge in specific EBP components, and a potential resource for clinical training programs considering modular approaches to treatment. A total of 67 clinical psychology doctoral students from three different institutions were administered the PERForm before and after participating in an in-class training on the practice elements of exposure and/or problem-solving. Results indicated good to excellent interrater reliabilities for the PERForm as well as some evidence supporting the measure’s sensitivity to instruction. Additionally, this was the first study to attempt to explore the relationships between students’ background characteristics and their procedural knowledge in the graduate school setting. Students’ year in the program, number of semesters in practicum, and group supervision hours per week were found to be associated with PERForm score changes, although these variables did not significantly predict procedural knowledge after controlling for the effect of cohort. While this investigation’s main purpose was to analyze the psychometric properties of the PERForm in a graduate school setting, the results of this study may have the potential to inform implementation and dissemination efforts in other aspects of therapist training.

Acknowledgments

This research team would like to acknowledge Dr. Sarah Kate Bearman, The University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Hilary Kratz, La Salle University, for their generous participation in study administration and data collection. We would also like to acknowledge Drs. Charles W. Mueller and Frank Floyd for their contributions to the design and review of this study.

Associated presentations and manuscripts related to this study

Some of the data from this paper were previously presented at the Annual Convention of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (November 2019). This study has not been submitted for publication in any other form outside the current submission.

Compliance with ethical standards

APA ethical standards were followed in the conduct of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

The Human Investigation Committee (IRB) of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa approved this study.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants whose data were included in the study.

Notes

¹ PracticeWise, LLC (https://www.practicewise.com) is a specialty corporation in research analytics and therapist training for youth EBPs

Additional information

Funding

This study was completed without support from any funding source.