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Posttraumatic growth (PTG) research is an emerging area of empirical study, especially within the field of clinical health psychology. Much of the research in this area has thus far focused on determining the correlates and predictors of PTG. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the association between posttraumatic growth and dispositional optimism, specifically in relation to health traumas. Empirical studies that met the inclusion criteria were reviewed according to specific evaluation criteria. Results regarding the relationship between dispositional optimism and posttraumatic growth were found to be equivocal. A number of conceptual and methodological issues were identified and discussed in relation to the field of PTG research. Future directions for research are provided.

Theevaluation of supervisor training has featured weak measurement and lacked a coherent framework, limiting effectiveness. A literature review was first conducted to clarify the current status of supervisor workshop evaluations, related to the promising fidelity framework. This consists of five criteria: the workshop's design, the training (competence of the trainer), the delivery of the workshop, the learning of the participants (receipt), and the clinical practice outcomes (enactment). Second, we applied this framework to the training of supervisors (n = 17) in a cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) approach, by analysing one trainer leading two successive supervisors’ workshops. The review of the literature indicated that there were significant psychometric and conceptual deficiencies in the current evaluation of supervisor training. The data from the case-study analysis suggest that the manual-based workshop could be delivered with high fidelity by this trainer (e.g. the CBT approach to supervision received 89% approval). The fidelity framework provided a systematic, feasible and coherent rationale for the evaluation of supervisor training. Our preliminary findings indicated that the workshop was successful. To fulfil its promise as an improved way of evaluating supervisor training, the framework should be piloted with other trainers, instruments and workshops, using controlled designs.

Therapy process research has made surprisingly little headway during the past 25 years, which has been attributed to a range of methodological and conceptual problems. As a result, appeals have been made for fresh approaches to psychotherapy process research. Here we provide an experiential learning model as one promising way to crystallize conceptualizations of competence in therapy and to advance research. The model provides an integrative account of the moderators and mediators believed to explain the way that therapy achieves its outcomes. Its breadth takes it beyond the scope of its closest rival, the assimilation model. By way of illustration, the theoretical components of the experiential metaphor were operationalized and mapped onto an existing competence scale, the Cognitive Therapy Scale.