(Proper) practice helps: Results of a multicentre trial of Deliberate Practice for the acquisition of basic therapeutic skills

Barke A, Doering B, Forkmann T, Ruhleder M, Weise C, Korwisi B (2025)

Publication Type: Conference contribution, Abstract of lecture

Publication year: 2025

Event location: Frankfurt am Main DE

Abstract

Introduction: Deliberate Practice (DP) is a structured method for the acquisition of complex skills that is used in the training of musical and athletic performance. Recently, DP has been applied to psychotherapy training; however, data on its effectiveness and acceptance among students are sparse. 

Methods: Students of the clinical master's programme at three universities (Erlangen, Essen, Kiel) completed the German version of the Counselor Activity Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES-R) before (baseline) and after (post) 11 hours of teaching basic psychotherapy skills using DP. At both time points, the students also recorded a five-minute interaction sequence with an actor simulating a standardized patient, which were rated by external supervisors (blind to the time of recording) regarding a set of competencies. The students also answered questions about their acceptance of DP. 

Result: Pilot data from Essen are currently available. At the time of the conference, we will report on the multicentre data. In the pilot data (n=17), there was an increase in therapeutic self-efficacy (d=1.0) and improvements in the external assessments (d=0.53 to d=0.90). The acceptance of DP was high (8.7±0.7). The structured feedback process was perceived as helpful [8.9±0.3] and hardly any unpleasant feelings were reported. The expert-rated improvements correlated exclusively with the time spent practicing independently with the video prompts between sessions (r =.45, p<.05). 

Conclusion: Initial pilot data show that DP is well received by students and leads to improvements in therapeutic self-efficacy and peer-rated skills. Personal practice with provided video prompts correlates with improvements in performance

Authors with CRIS profile

Cornelia Weise Lehrstuhl für Klinische Psychologie und Behavioral Health Technology

Involved external institutions

Universität Duisburg-Essen (UDE) DE Germany (DE) Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel DE Germany (DE) Georg-August-Universität Göttingen DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Barke, A., Doering, B., Forkmann, T., Ruhleder, M., Weise, C., & Korwisi, B. (2025, May). (Proper) practice helps: Results of a multicentre trial of Deliberate Practice for the acquisition of basic therapeutic skills. Paper presentation at EACLIPT Conference 2025, Frankfurt am Main, DE.

MLA:

Barke, Antonia, et al. "(Proper) practice helps: Results of a multicentre trial of Deliberate Practice for the acquisition of basic therapeutic skills." Presented at EACLIPT Conference 2025, Frankfurt am Main 2025.

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