[The development of subjective generic psychodynamic intervention competencies: longitudinal evaluation of the DYNAMIC curriculum]

Abstract

Practical training formats for the acquisition of psychotherapeutic competencies and skills are currently being developed and tested for their effectiveness. The DYNAMIC curriculum aims to promote the development of psychodynamic intervention skills over the course of therapeutic training, the overall curriculum consists of 8 practical training seminars in 4 years. The study reported here focuses on self-reported, subjectively perceived longitudinal development of general dynamic intervention skills. For the investigation of this research question, 82 current postgraduate trainees in psychodynamic psychotherapy were recruited and attended practical training seminars. The study period was 2 years, during this time participants attended 1-4 seminars. They reported on their perceived general dynamic intervention skills before and after each seminar. The results show that there is a significant subjective competence increase during the first few seminars, which decreases over the course of the curriculum. At the same time, the average level of subjectively experienced competence increased over the two years studied. Limitations exist due to the self-report scale that was used and the lack of a control group. Despite these limitations, the findings indicate a positive effect of practical training seminars on subjectively perceived general psychodynamic competence development.