Volume 27, Issue 2
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2018.1067
Building a Practice Research Network of Young Therapists and Early Career Researchers in Spanish speaking countries: Why, Who & How
Abstract
Red para el desarrollo de jóvenes psicoterapeutas e investigadores (Network for the Development of Young Psychotherapists and Researchers) is a Practice Research Network (PRN) conformed by early career clinicians and researchers. Following Practice-Oriented Research principles, the present study aims to describe the building process of this PRN by providing an overall explanation of the reasons that motivate its development, as well as to characterize the current situation of early career psychotherapists. To introduce the context in which our PRN is built, empirical data on the composition of early career psychotherapists in Argentina and Spain will be provided. Two studies are presented. The first study describes the development of a questionnaire that explores psychotherapists' attitudes and use of research outcomes in the clinical practice, as well as difficulties in accessing to scientific results and barriers to conducting research. The second study explores how therapists make clinical decisions and how these decisions impact on treatment process and outcome. In study 1, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were explored and a three-factor solution was obtained. We also observed that Spanish clinicians reported greater research accessibility difficulties than Argentines. Study 2 revealed different clinical decision-making processes when comparing pure clinicians (more oriented towards professional experience and research outcomes) and research clinicians (more likely to be guided by intuition and supervision). The therapeutic alliance and the clinical course of patients were associated with these decision-making processes. Clinical implications of the results are described and future plans of the PRN are presented.