Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 1;25(2):599.
doi: 10.4081/ripppo.2022.599.

Introducing the QACP: development and preliminary validation of an instrument to measure psychotherapist's core competencies

Michele Settanni  1 , Monica Bronzini  2 , Giuseppe Carzedda  3 , Giuseppe Godino  4 , Maria Luisa Manca  5 , Luisa Martini  6 , Gianluca Provvedi  7 , Francesco Quilghini  1 , Alberto Zucconi  8 , Gianni Francesetti  9
Affiliations

Introducing the QACP: development and preliminary validation of an instrument to measure psychotherapist's core competencies

Michele Settanni et al. Res Psychother. .

Abstract

The movement towards the conceptualization, description and evaluation of psychotherapists' competencies has been widely developed in the last years and has relevant implications for psychotherapy, training, and continuous education. In Italy, this movement has been supported by the Committee for Psychotherapists' Competencies established in 2010 by FIAP (Italian Federation of Psychotherapy's Associations) and CNSP (National Association of Psychotherapy's Training Institutes) and has involved more than 1000 psychotherapists from different approaches, by means of conferences, expert meetings, workshops, and focus groups. One of the outcomes of this process has been the development of a new self-assessment tool for core competencies (i.e., those that are shared by therapists from all modalities): the QACP (Questionario per l'Autovalutazione delle Competenze dello Psicoterapeuta). The present study aims to present the process of development and the preliminary proofs of the validity of this tool. Construct and knowngroup validity of the questionnaire were examined, and reliability was estimated by computing the internal consistency reliability coefficients for both the overall and the subscale scores. Overall, the instrument showed satisfactory psychometric characteristics. The limitations of the study and the results are discussed and directions for further research are proposed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: the authors declare no potential conflict of interest. Availability of data and materials: the data supporting the results are available from the corresponding author on request.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
QACP factor structure models.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Aherne D., Smith L., Whelan N., Hickey L., Kirwan C., Coffey A. M. (2018). Comparing competencies of a psychotherapist with those of a psychologist specialising in psychotherapy. European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 20(3), 294-311. doi:10.1080/13642537.2018. 1495244.
    1. American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics: As approved by the ACA governing council. Retrieved from: https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-ofethics.pdf
    1. American Psychological Association. (2004). Guidelines for psychological practice with older adults. American Psychologist, 59(4), 236-260. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.59.4.236. - PubMed
    1. American Psychological Association. (2006). Report of the APA task force on the assessment of competence in professional psychology. Washington, DC.: Author.
    1. American Psychological Association. (2007). 2006 Annual Report of the American Psychological Association. American Psychologist, 62(5), 339-370. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.62.5.339.