Does Clinical Psychology Education Enhance the Clinical Competence of Practitioners?

Until now there has been little evidence that graduate programs in clinical psychology make any difference to practitioners' abilities. The authors present a quasi-experimental study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of postgraduate education in clinical psychology. Clinical psychology students from Australian universities were compared with psychology graduates who had elected to practice under Australian provisional registration rules (i.e., without a postgraduate education). Results showed that after 1 extra year of education, postgraduate trainees performed better than those with no postgraduate training, but only to a modest degree. The authors explore the implications of these results for trainers, trainees, and professional organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does a Clinical Psychology Education Moderate Relationships Between Personality or Emotional Adjustment and Performance As a Clinical Psychologist?

Does an education in clinical psychology affect relationships between personality or emotional adjustment and clinical knowledge or clinical practice ability? Two groups were assessed at the beginning of their professional development and 1 year later. The 1st group was studying clinical psychology, and the 2nd group was obtaining training under a workplace supervision model. At pretest, measures of defensiveness were correlated with practice ability, and participants who had emotional adjustment problems obtained lower practice ability scores. At posttest, neither pretest personality nor emotional adjustment was correlated with clinical performance. An interaction between education group and problem group suggests that a clinical education enhances the performance of students with emotional problems at the onset of their education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)