Pre-Practicum Training in Professional Psychology to Close the Research-Practice Gap: Changing Attitudes Towards Evidence-Based Practice

Abstract

Despite the rapid proliferation of mental health interventions with proven benefit for youth, empirically supported interventions (ESIs) are underutilized in most service settings. Treatment outcome studies in these community-based settings suggest that the majority of youth do not show improvement, underscoring the importance of addressing the gap between research and practice. Clinician attitudes toward evidence-based practice (EBP) may limit the use of ESIs, and efforts to address these attitudes with post-graduate training pose significant challenges. Pre-practicum training in EBP may address these challenges by familiarizing students with the framework of EBP as well as with the current youth treatment evidence base and the theories and strategies of well-supported interventions. We describe a required EBP course within a professional psychology doctoral program. Forty-two students in two class cohorts completed a measure of attitudes toward EBP prior to the first class and after the final class lecture. Students were predominantly Caucasian women with bachelor's degrees. As expected, over the course of the class, student attitudes became significantly more favorable toward EBP. Students who had previously received a master's degree had more favorable attitudes prior to the class, and students with a prior bachelor's degree showed the greatest change in attitude. The results support the use of pre-practicum training in EBP to improve attitudes toward EBP, which may lead to use of effective practices with clients following training.

Keywords: clinician attitudes; evidence based practice; professional psychology graduate training.