Teaching Methods to Complement Competencies in Reducing the “Junkyard” Curriculum in Clinical Psychology

Abstract

This article aims to identify the most efficient ways to teach and learn the professional competencies required in clinical psychology. There are a wide variety of influences on clinical psychology curricula that leads to a lack of coherence in aims and methods. When clinical psychology trainees come face‐to‐face with their first client, they are challenged to integrate their existing declarative knowledge and apply nascent procedural skills. How can clinical programmes better prepare students for these challenges? Because problem‐based learning has been widely applied in medical education it is the starting point in answering this question. Systematic literature searches and a narrative literature review were undertaken to identify teaching methods. Little published research reports randomised controlled evaluations of teaching methods in health professions. Much literature presented opinions about teaching methods. Whole‐of‐programme evaluations of problem‐based learning in medical education were retrieved and directed learning or direct instruction techniques were examined in teaching more specific knowledge. Little research was of direct relevance to clinical psychology training. More research is needed into both the efficacy of clinical psychology training and into the specific barriers that trainee clinical psychologists face. In the absence of good quality research, suggestions for teaching methods are provided.

Meeting Current Challenges in School Psychology Training: The Role of Problem-Based Learning

“…The strengths identified are congruent with PBL evaluations in a range of professional training. For example, in parallel with clinical psychology trainers who have advocated the approach (Baillie et al, 2011), tutors in this study described the psychological underpinnings of PBL in social constructivist terms and viewed the compatibility of this approach with the core program philosophy as a strength. Other strengths, such as students' growing ability to deal with uncertainty and engage in self-directed learning, were likewise reported in a systematic review of the impact of PBL on physician competency (Koh et al, 2008).…”

Competency‐based training and assessment in Australian postgraduate clinical psychology education

“…Baillie et al () suggested that the PBL principle of scaffolding may be one solution to linking the didactic and the experiential from a CLT perspective in competency‐based learning. Educational scaffolding endorses high levels of support in the early stages of training and is linked to greater levels of didactic instruction.…”

“…Although PBL would seem to correspond with a number of outcomes relevant to competency-based training, its efficacy is still to be confirmed using objective criteria over time. Baillie et al (2011) suggested CLT as an alternative curriculum development approach to PBL. CLT attempts to understand learning from the perspective of cognitive architecture (Clark, Nguyen, & Sweller, 2006).…”

“…Despite strong empirical evidence for this and similar cognitive load effects (Sweller, 2010), CLT's didactic approach to learning seems initially at odds with the experiential elements of competencybased training. Baillie et al (2011) suggested that the PBL principle of scaffolding may be one solution to linking the didactic and the experiential from a CLT perspective in competencybased learning. Educational scaffolding endorses high levels of support in the early stages of training and is linked to greater levels of didactic instruction.…”

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A competency emphasis requires clarification of the nature and theoretical grounding of competencies, and of the most effective methods to train and assess them, including the evaluation of problem‐based learning approaches and of optimal modes of supervision. (Kavanagh, , p. 65)

Psychology is in the process of turning its attention to defining and developing competency‐based training (Baillie et al, ; Gonsalvez et al, ; Pachana, Sofronoff, Scott, & Helmes, ). Drawing on insights from the medical field, the growing focus on competency within psychology training programmes has been described as an educational “culture shift” (Roberts, Borden, Christiansen, & Lopez, , p. 356).…”