Simulated patients in training and supervision for the evaluation of therapeutic competencies

• Applicants: Privatdozentin Dr. Franziska Kühne; Professor Dr. Florian Weck
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 417991996

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

This research project investigates which training strategies are particularly suitable for promoting specific psychotherapeutic competences among trainee psychotherapists. In the first phase of the project, the foundations were laid for experiments comparing different training methods. This included the development and validation of rating instruments to assess clinical communication skills and evaluate the authenticity of simulated patients (SPs), instruments to measure clinical knowledge, and standardized role plays. It could be shown that the representation of mental disorders in role plays can be implemented authentically and cannot be distinguished from the behavior of "real" patients. This represents an important prerequisite for the generalizability of studies on training measures under experimental conditions. In the second phase of the project, two experimental studies focusing on the promotion of psychotherapeutic competencies were conducted. In both experiments, psychology students were trained in methods of cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of depressive disorders. These methods included cognitive restructuring and behavioral activation. Standardized role plays were used to apply and measure therapeutic competences. In the first experiment, the importance of modeling for training success was investigated in 69 psychology students. For this purpose, a training condition in which a therapist demonstrated the application of cognitive restructuring or behavioral activation in a video model (experimental condition) was compared with a control condition (reading of a corresponding manual text). Participants in the experimental condition achieved a significantly higher increase in independently assessed therapeutic skills than participants who had only read the manual text. These results provide important evidence for the role of modeling in promoting psychotherapeutic skills. In the second experiment, two supervision formats were compared. Here, 70 psychology students received supervision based on their report or based on the video recording of their simulated therapy session. This experimental design was intended to address the fact that video material is often not considered in supervision sessions in the context of psychotherapy training. Initial evaluations indicate that both supervision formats lead to a comparable increase in psychotherapeutic competencies. However, there was also evidence that supervisors were better able to assess the competencies of supervisees when supervision was based on video recordings. This can be seen as a central advantage of videobased supervision.

Publications

• Simulated patients in training and supervision. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
  Kühne, Franziska
  
• Can Psychotherapy Trainees Distinguish Standardized Patients From Real Patients?. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 49(3), 182-190.
  Ay-Bryson, Destina Sevde; Weck, Florian; Heinze, Peter Eric; Lang, Thomas & Kühne, Franziska
  
• Einsatz standardisierter Patienten im Psychologiestudium: Von der Forschung in die Praxis. Verhaltenstherapie, 31(2), 152-160.
  Kühne, Franziska; Maaß, Ulrike & Weck, Florian
  
• Standardized patients in psychotherapy training and clinical supervision: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 21(1).
  Kühne, Franziska; Heinze, Peter Eric & Weck, Florian
  
• Development of a Scale for Assessing Basic Psychotherapeutic Skills. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 50(3-4), 116-132.
  Kühne, Franziska; Heinze, Peter Eric; Ay-Bryson, Destina Sevde; Maaß, Ulrike & Weck, Florian
  
• Ist der Einsatz simulierter Patient_innen zum Erwerb psychotherapeutischer Fertigkeiten praktikabel?. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 50(3-4), 179-196.
  Kühne, Franziska; Maaß, Ulrike; Stephan, Isabell & Weck, Florian
  
• Simulationspatient_innen in Forschung undLehre. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 50(3-4), 113-115.
  Kühne, Franziska & Weck, Florian
  
• Can simulated patient encounters appear authentic? Development and pilot results of a rating instrument based on the portrayal of depressive patients.. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 16(1), 20-27.
  Ay-Bryson, Destina Sevde; Weck, Florian & Kühne, Franziska
  
• Modeling in psychotherapy training: A randomized controlled proof-of-concept trial.. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 90(12), 950-956.
  Kühne, Franziska; Heinze, Peter Eric; Maaß, Ulrike & Weck, Florian
  
• The concise measurement of clinical communication skills: Validation of a short scale. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13.
  Maaß, Ulrike; Kühne, Franziska; Heinze, Peter Eric; Ay-Bryson, Destina Sevde & Weck, Florian
  
• Can students in simulation portray a psychotherapy patient authentically with a detailed role-script? Results of a randomized-controlled study.. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 17(1), 89-97.
  Ay-Bryson, Destina Sevde; Weck, Florian & Kühne, Franziska
  
• The relation between knowledge and skills assessments in psychotherapy training: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 18(2), 162-167.
  Heinze, Peter Eric; Weck, Florian; Maaß, Ulrike & Kühne, Franziska