The utility of threshold concepts for clinical psychology education programmes

ABSTRACT

Background

The 2019 Australian Psychology Accreditation Council’s Accreditation Standards for Psychology Programs require clinical psychology education providers to focus on building and assessing competencies. There is limited evidence regarding the most effective methods of teaching competent practice. Threshold concepts are those which change the way a learner views a topic once understood. Threshold concepts comprise a novel approach to teaching and learning in higher education which have not yet been applied to clinical psychology education.

Objective

The identification and application of threshold concepts in other practice-based health care education was reviewed to assess their utility in clinical psychology education.

Method

A search of published articles related to threshold concept theory and practice-based health care disciplines was conducted and those papers which used empirical methods to identify threshold concepts were reviewed.

Results

Nine articles where threshold concepts were identified in five practice-based health care disciplines including occupational therapy, medicine, physiotherapy, paediatric surgery and prosthetics, were found. A number of threshold concepts found in other disciplines had relevance to competencies required by the standards for clinical psychology practice, predominantly with reference to competent application of psychological interventions.

Conclusions

The literature suggests that threshold concepts are a promising area of educational innovation with strong potential to improve clinical psychology education. Identifying these concepts could assist clinical psychology educators to develop curriculum to meet the Australian standards and facilitate learners’ movement through the essential learning thresholds.

KEY POINTS

What is already known about this topic:

(1) Threshold concepts are those which transform a learner’s view of a topic once they are understood

(2) Threshold concept theory has gained traction in higher education pedagogy as they facilitate transformative learning

(3) The 2019 Australian Psychology Accreditation Council’s Accreditation Standards for Psychology Programs require developing and assessing competencies in clinical psychology postgraduate programmes

What this topic adds:

(1) Threshold concept theory has been applied pedagogically in other practice-based health disciplines, but not Clinical Psychology

(2) Other practice-based health care disciplines including nursing, medicine, occupational therapy and physiotherapy have found benefit in applying threshold concept theory to their practice education programs

(3) There is potential utility in identifying threshold concepts in clinical psychology education and applying them to education programme development

KEYWORDS:

• Threshold concepts
• clinical psychology education
• practice-based health care education
• cognitive behavioural therapy

Disclosure statement

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