Expertise in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy

We are analyzing the development of expertise in the domain of clinical psychology and psychotherapy. In order to assess knowledge in psychology as well as basic clinical competences we constructed a questionnaire that can be accessed here: knowledge test and short case studies (material is presented in German). We assessed basic psychological knowledge (Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7), the knowledge of how to apply basic psychological knowledge to clinical psychology (Items 8, 9, and 10) and clinical knowledge (Items 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16). Basic clinical competences (correctness and explanation of diagnosis, and use of higher-order concepts) were measured with two short case studies (see Items 6 and 11).

Another central component of expertise in this domain is the ability to process complex and dynamically evolving case information. In order to assess this ability we developed a complex case study. This case study can be accessed here: complex, dynamically evolving case study (material is presented in German).

 For more information on our work see:

• Vollmer, S., Spada, H., Caspar, F., & Burri, S. (2013). Expertise in clinical psychology. The effects of university training and practical experience on expertise in clinical psychology. Front. Psychol. 4:141. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00141

Sabine Vollmer and Hans Spada