The Association of Therapist’s Level of Experience and Facilitative  Interpersonal Skills: Secondary Analysis

Objectives: Some of the domains in which more experienced practitioners have been shown to outperform their less experienced colleagues relate to interpersonal skills, that can be measured by performance-based measure called Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS). FIS has been identified as a strong predictor of treatment outcome, yet it is not known whether the FIS score is dependent on therapeutic experience. The present study tested the impact of clinical experience on FIS task performance by examining the influence of experience on FIS total score and the eight domains. Method: A total of 46 clinical psychology master’s students and 94 licensed cognitive-behavioural therapists participated in FIS assessment and provided information on their prior clinical experience. To test the hypotheses the multi-level growth model for repeated measures was employed. Results: Experienced therapists, on average, scored higher on FIS assessment than master’s students. The analyses of...Show moreObjectives: Some of the domains in which more experienced practitioners have been shown to outperform their less experienced colleagues relate to interpersonal skills, that can be measured by performance-based measure called Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS). FIS has been identified as a strong predictor of treatment outcome, yet it is not known whether the FIS score is dependent on therapeutic experience. The present study tested the impact of clinical experience on FIS task performance by examining the influence of experience on FIS total score and the eight domains. Method: A total of 46 clinical psychology master’s students and 94 licensed cognitive-behavioural therapists participated in FIS assessment and provided information on their prior clinical experience. To test the hypotheses the multi-level growth model for repeated measures was employed. Results: Experienced therapists, on average, scored higher on FIS assessment than master’s students. The analyses of individual FIS domains revealed that the therapists performed significantly better on the 5 out of 8 FIS domains. Conclusions: Results were consistent with the hypothesis that the FIS assessment is dependent on one’s level of experience. The results imply that interpersonal skills can be modified through training or over the course of a therapeutic career. Conceptual and practical considerations of the findings are discussed.Show less

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The Association of Therapist’s Level of Experience and Facilitative Interpersonal Skills: Secondary Analysis