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Counseling Center seeks Interns from APA accredited programs
in clinical and counseling psychology which produce students
with the skills necessary to think critically and to evaluate
the findings of research-based knowledge within the context
of a broad base of practical experience. While conducting research
during the internship is not required, Interns are encouraged
throughout the year to develop and to utilize their critical
thinking skills, their knowledge of the scientific literature,
and their ability to evaluate new research findings as a basis
for clinical interventions. These are encouraged through such
means as case assignments, individual and group supervision,
mentoring and modeling, training seminars, internal and external
rotations, in-service training, formal and informal consultation,
attendance at professional conferences and workshops, and assigned
readings.
The Practitioner-Scholar model as conceptualized by the training
staff of the USF Counseling Center is consistent with the
mutuality of science and practice as discussed by Hoshmand
and Polinghorne (1992). They state that psychological science
as a human practice and psychological practice as a human
science inform each other and emphasize the importance of
the development of reflective skills in the practice of psychology.
These processes are fostered and strongly encouraged in the
Counseling Center through supervision, modeling, teaching,
and mentoring which seek to integrate the scientific and practice
functions of the professional in training. As Hoshmand and
Polinghorne propose, practice is ... the locale for knowledge
development through practical reasoning processes and for
the pragmatic test of knowledge claims. An expert practitioner
constantly evaluates the fit of scientific knowledge to the
requirements of practice. Through trial and error, construct
systems are modified as a new understanding produces better
results than the old.
Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986) described five stages in the acquisition
of the knowledge of practice. In the first (or novice) stage
the source of knowledge is primarily external to the practitioner,
and practice consists of applying the rules and procedures
derived from academic training. In the fifth (or expert) stage,
the source of knowledge is foremost the practitioners experience,
and practice involves accommodating previous understanding
to the uniqueness of a particular clinical situation. Expert
knowledge is a dynamic and contextualized understanding that
is the result of the interaction of cognitive patterns or
meaning gestalts with environmental cues. Mental designs are
revised and adjusted in the light of professional experiences
and reflective thought. Forrest-Pressley, McKinnon, &
Waller (1985) stated that when we reflect, we change from
thinking with our patterns to meta-cognitive awareness. We
focus on the possibility that the situation may not fit any
pattern of understanding in our repertoire or that we have
tried to make the situation conform to a pattern with which
we are comfortable.
Hoshmand and Polinghorne (1992) conclude that professional
education should be focused on the development of reflective
judgment of the type conceived in expert practice. They state
that the purpose of developing skillful reflection is to enhance
the capacity of deliberative control over the biases that
hamper full understanding and lessen practitioners effectiveness
in the context of practice. Professional wisdom should include
the ability to evaluate and critique ones own understanding
and actions. The National Conference on Scientist-Practitioner
Education and Training for the Professional Practice of Psychology
(Belar and Perry, 1992) concluded that education and training
in either research or practice alone, or concurrently without
integration, were viewed as not fulfilling the requirements
for implementation of this model. In a conference policy statement,
it was concluded that training in research prepares the scientist-practitioner
for distinguishing fact from opinion in applications of the
science of behavior and for innovation in existing theory
and techniques. Conference recommendations included the following:
(1) The process of critical thinking, hypothesis testing and
other elements of the scientific method should be engendered
and integrated into all experiential activities throughout
the training process, (2) The experiential component of practice
should be broad and general rather than narrow and specific,
(3) The experiential component should include several different
levels of experiences across a broad variety of settings and
populations.
Stricker and Trierweiler (1995) describe the local clinical
scientist as one who operates as an active scientist, not
simply as an applied scientist, and approaching each clinical
interaction as a problem to be solved, much as the scientist
approaches problems in the laboratory...each clinical exchange
takes place in a metaphoric scientific laboratory... the clinician
must draw on the corpus of scientific psychological knowledge
and apply it as relevant and appropriate.
The psychology training staff at the USF Counseling Center
for Human Development fully endorses the practitioner-scholar
model of training and strives to develop and review all policies
and procedures pertinent to the pre-doctoral internship program
in professional psychology within this context.
References
Belar, C.D. & Perry, N.W. (1992). The National Conference
on Scientist-Practitioner Education and Training for the Professional
Practice of Psychology. American Psychologist, 47, 71-75.
Dreyfus, H.L., & Dreyfus, S.E. (1986). Mind over machine.
New York: Free Press.
Forrest-Pressley, D., McKinnon, G., & Waller, T. (1985).
Meta-cognition, cognition , and human performance. San Diego,
CA: Academic Press.
Hoshmand, L.T., & Polkinghorne, D.E. (1992). Redefining
the science-practice relationship and professional training.
American Psychologist, 47, 55-66.
Stricker, G. & Trierweiler, S.J. (1995). The local clinical
scientist: A bridge between science and practice. American
Psychologist, 50, 995-1002.
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