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Becoming a School: Developing Learning Objectives for Psychoanalytic Education
Abstract
Data collected from multiple psychoanalytic institutes in the United States. indicate that the lack of clear guidelines for progression and graduation compromises psychoanalytic training in many ways (Cabaniss, Glick, and Roose, 2000). Educational research suggests that learning objectives and clear assessment tools can help to demystify education, guide curriculum development, clarify standards for the field, and prompt research (Gardner, 1995, 1999; Wiggins and McTighe, 1998; Wiske, 1998). This article outlines the process by which the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research undertook to operationalize objectives for learning in clinical psychoanalysis and to develop and use a standardized supervisory assessment tool. It further outlines the multicenter project on supervisory assessment that has evolved from this effort that now involves 4 psychoanalytic institutes in North America.
... Although this approach strongly articulates key components of a training sequence, its implementation may lend itself to a more dated emphasis on educational inputs (e.g., accruing a certain number of control case of a particular length; Cabaniss et al., 2003), rather than clearly specifying educational outcomes, such as the particular clinical competencies trainees should possess at the conclu-sion of their training. Initial efforts have been made to rectify this issue, and a few psychoanalytic competency documents have started to appear in the literature (e.g., Cabaniss, 2008;Morris et al., 2015;Tuckett, 2005). ...
... Psychoanalytic educators at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research have also developed a competency framework. According to Cabaniss (2008), this project started as educators in the program acknowledged the limitations of the evaluative criteria being used, such as evaluating candidates based on the length of their control cases. The framework they developed attempted to enhance the precision of evaluation by specifying the competencies to be demonstrated by candidates. ...
... Relatedly, although there is some debate regarding the utility of the distinction (e.g., Eisold, 2005;Waska, 2006;Zerbe, 2007), these models tend to focus on the practice of formal psychoanalysis rather than psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Also, with one exception (i.e., Cabaniss, 2008), the models are not developmentally sensitive in their articulation. That is, they tend to describe the mature expression of clinical competencies, without specifying what those competencies may look like at various stages of development. ...
Although the field of professional psychology has moved to an increased emphasis on assessing trainees' clinical competencies (Roberts, Borden, Christiansen, & Lopez, 2005), the field of psychoanalysis has lagged behind. A few psychoanalytic competency models have begun to emerge (e.g., Barsness, 2017; Cabaniss, 2008; Lemma, Roth, & Pilling, 2008; Morris, Javier, & Herron, 2015; Tuckett, 2005); however, these models primarily focus on full analytic training in postdoctoral institutes, tend to not set benchmarks of what competencies may be expected at different developmental points across a training sequence, and are often described at a level of detail that renders the model impractical for regular use in evaluating student learning. As such, the current article addresses this important gap in the literature by specifying a competency model of psychoanalytically informed psychotherapy that may be used in conjunction with existing American Psychological Association competency benchmark documents (e.g., Fouad et al., 2009), and may serve as a tool for psychoanalytic psychotherapy training in doctoral programs in clinical and counseling psychology.
... In a highly instructive body of work, Deborah Cabannis and her colleagues at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (CUCPTR) have: (1) powerfully reinforced the supreme significance of having clarity, precision, specificity, and transparency in psychoanalytic training; (2) convincingly demonstrated the negative consequences that result when those elements are lacking; and (3) compellingly accentuated the unequivocal importance of establishing learning objectives to most effectively guide psychoanalytic training and its evaluation (Cabannis, 2008(Cabannis, , 2011Cabannis & Arbuckle, 2011;Cabannis & Roose, 1997;Cabannis, Glick, & Roose, 2001;Cabannis, Schein, Glick, & Roose, 2004;Moga & Cabaniss, in press;Rojas, Arbuckle, & Cabaniss, 2010; for a list of CUCPTR learning objectives, go to http://www. psychoanalysis.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/Lear-ningobjectivesRev.pdf). ...
... Furthermore, those data also provide a potential remedy, suggesting that transparent assessment based on clear objectives can go a long way in preventing ambiguity and mystery from compromising psychoanalytic training and supervision. As Cabannis (2008) has stated, ''Ultimately, instituting standardized criteria for clinical competence is essential to the continued practice of psychoanalysis' ' (p. 270). ...
... Although originally developed with post-secondary education in mind, the USDE competency framework seems to be one such model that could be suitably adapted for the purposes of reforming psychoanalytic education (cf. Cabannis, 2008). ...
Having now completed its first century, psychoanalytic supervision has been and continues to be regarded as the cornerstone of psychoanalytic education; it is the primary means by which (1) psychoanalytic ideology becomes translated into practical product, and (2) budding analytic practitioners develop and grow in their therapeutic skills and professional identity. The supreme significance of supervision in contributing to the “making” of the competent psychoanalytic practitioner now seems a widely accepted given, even axiomatic. But as its second century gets underway, what have we learned from psychoanalytic supervision's first 100 years? What are its most pressing needs and, in turn, impressing possibilities at this time? And what needs to most change if psychoanalytic supervision is to most profitably advance in the years and decades ahead? In this paper, I would like to consider those questions, giving focus to five needs that seem to most require attention now: (1) making the practice of psychoanalytic treatment an increasingly competency-based, concretized learning affair; (2) enhancing the efficacy of supervisors through competency-based practice and training in psychoanalytic supervision; (3) more effectively incorporating existing technology and emerging technological advances into supervision and using them to enhance the psychoanalytic learning process; (4) better attending to matters of difference and diversity, and striving to seamlessly integrate them into the conceptualization and conduct of the psychoanalytic supervision experience; and (5) vigorously researching the psychoanalytic supervision process and working to establish an evidence base for supervisory practice.
... Over the past approximate 15-year period, a series of well-done studies has begun to identify problems that accrue where psychoanalytic education is defined by lack of clarity and detail (Cabaniss, 2008;Cabaniss, Glick, & Roose, 2001;Cabaniss, Schein, Glick, & Roose, 2004;Cabaniss & Roose, 1997;Rojas, Arbuckle, & Cabaniss, 2010). Pioneered by Cabaniss and her colleagues at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, their research has consistently accentuated the substantive importance of educational precision, specificity, and transparency. ...
... Berman, 2004;Brodbeck, 2008;Garza-Guerrero, 2004;Goldberg, 1996;Kernberg, 1986Kernberg, , 1996Kernberg, , 2000Kernberg, , 2007Kernberg, , 2011Reeder, 2004;Wallerstein, 2011). To counter such unfortunate educational possibilities, Cabaniss (2008Cabaniss ( , 2011Cabaniss & Arbuckle, 2011;Rojas et al., 2010) has waged a persuasive campaign for transparency, openness, and precision in analytic teaching and supervision (see Appendix A, Cabaniss, 2008, for developmental learning objectives; http://www.psychoanalysis .columbia.edu/sites/default/files/LearningobjectivesRev.pdf). ...
... Similar competence concerns have also begun to appear more so in writings about psychoanalytic training and supervision (see Cabaniss, 2008;Israelstam, 2011;Watkins, in press b). The more recent parallel question to emerge has been: What exactly do we mean by psychoanalytic supervisor competence? ...
What are the primary features or themes that have come to increasingly define the effective practice of psychoanalytic supervision? In this article, I give attention to that question—identifying and reflecting upon a set of 10 “emerged” or “emerging” guideposts that seem to capture key facets or factors of the supervision scene now. Some of the areas that are reviewed include: (a) having fire, passion, and spirit for doing psychoanalytic supervision; (b) the learning alliance, real relationship, and supervision agreement; (c) analytic and supervisory reflectivity; (d) acute apprehension of the supervisory field (i.e., understanding and productively utilizing analytic and supervision transference, countertransference, and parallel process phenomena); (e) supervision intervention; and (f) individual and developmental diversity. Each of those areas is examined for its supervisory significance, and effort is made to develop a contemporary portrait of some of the essentials of effective psychoanalytic supervision practice. That resulting portrait is then placed within the context of the current competency movement, and the need to more clearly articulate a competency-based approach for psychoanalytic supervision is considered. Now over a century old, psychoanalytic supervision has proven to be a vibrant, vital, and vitalizing component of psychoanalytic education—a cornerstone in the “making” of psychoanalytic practitioners. In what follows, I hope to communicate and celebrate some of why that is so and reflect on how we might contribute to the further enrichment of that generative tradition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
... Although on the one hand that is quite understandable (after all, supervision is about fostering psychoanalytic competence), there conversely has seemingly been a virtual universal neglect of supervisor competence and supervisory competencies. Amidst ongoing discussion of and efforts to identify what it takes to be a competent analyst, requisite analyst competencies for effective practice, and a heuristic framework for conceptualizing and studying analyst competence (Cabaniss, 2008;Tuckett, 2005), where is our complementary and parallel discussion of and efforts to identify what it takes to be a competent supervisor, requisite supervisor competencies for effective practice, and a heuristic framework for conceptualizing and studying supervisor competence? Although it would clearly be critically important that the supervisory analyst be able to monitor and teach about competent analytic process in supervision, who teaches the supervisors about competent supervisory process and practice and the varied intricacies of what that entails? ...
... While we indeed can find mention of important supervisory competencies across the psychoanalytic literature of the past century (e.g., establishing a collegial learning alliance, engaging in self-reflection; Bibring, 1937;Fleming & Benedek, 1966;Sarnat, 2012), no efforts have been made to more broadly identify and organize the array of requisite competencies that are needed for effective supervisory practice. Whereas specific psychoanalytic competencies have been identified and placed within a broader competency framework (see Junkers,Tuckett, & Zachrisson, 2008;Tuckett, 2005) and concrete learning objectives have been proposed to guide psychoanalytic training (Cabaniss, 2008), none of that has happened for psychoanalytic supervision. ...
... While that progression was originally developed with postsecondary schools in mind, it also has direct and ready relevance to psychoanalytic education. Much as Cabaniss (2008) has stated, "In thinking about educational reform, analysts need not reinvent the wheel-rather, they need to look beyond the institute walls to see what's happening in classrooms from elementary schools to graduate programs" (p. 268). ...
A critical if not superordinate task of the psychoanalytic supervisor has long been and continues to be the identification, facilitation, and evaluation of candidate or supervisee psychoanalytic competence. Considered study of actual supervisor competence itself, however, has largely been absent from the psychoanalytic literature. We lack for systematic and substantive attention to defining and conceptualizing psychoanalytic supervisor competence, identifying specific competencies deemed most important for psychoanalytic supervisors to possess, and examining the manifestation of those competencies across the spectrum of supervisory process. In this paper, I attempt to give some attention to those issues by (1) assembling and organizing a host of seemingly important , historically durable, and ever-enduring psychoanalytic supervisor competencies, and (2) locating those competencies within four frameworks that can be used to structure and contain the supervisory process—the participant-observational, conceptual, interventional, and evaluational (Szecsody, 2008; Tuckett, 2005). If we are to most effectively engage in supervisory practice, most meaningfully train supervisors in how to supervise, and most incisively study supervision process and outcome, then more specifically defining and delineating the domain of supervisor competence and competencies would seem to be the sine qua non. What follows, then, is presented as more stimulus package than otherwise—a tentative, preliminary, admittedly imperfect competencies-by-frameworks proposal that is designed as a means to focus attention on and provoke discussion about what is seemingly a supremely important yet much neglected topic area in psychoanalytic supervision.
... In highlighting these particular competencies I drew upon Tuckett's work, relating these core competencies to his ''frames.' ' Cabaniss (2008' Cabaniss ( , 2011 has been working along similar lines, defining learning objectives for psychodynamic psychotherapists and analytic candidates. For example, she breaks down the primary learning objectives for psychoanalytic interventions into the skill series ''listen, reflect, intervene'' and then tries to specify precisely what needs to be learned for each of these skills. ...
... Given the lamentable absence of process and outcome research in psychoanalytic supervision itself (Watkins 2010), Cabaniss (2008) borrows relevant research from the field of education to define best practices in teaching psychoanalytic psychotherapy skills. In particular she refers to research conducted by Tyler which demonstrated the effectiveness of specifying and operationalizing goals and objectives, designing one's teaching strategy specifically to accomplish them, and later using one's goals and objectives to assess the effectiveness of the teaching process. ...
Abstract Existing research from the fields of education, cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychoanalytic psy- chotherapy points us toward possibilities for the future of psychoanalytic supervision. This research suggests that we need to go beyond communicating abstract knowledge and make our supervisory relationships more experiential, participatory, relationship-focused, and personal in order to teach usable knowledge, develop complex psychothera- peutic skills, and facilitate emotional and relational development in our supervisees. The author concludes that a relational model of supervision fits this pedagogical profile. After grappling with our resistances to change, the author hopes that more psychoanalytic supervisors will make use of a relational model of supervision, as well as drawing upon new technologies and neuroscience-based teaching techniques.
... Cabaniss and her colleagues at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research have taken a close, instructive look at what appears to contribute to and detract from making psychoanalytic education a more beneficial experience. Their body of research has increasingly accentuated the importance of (a) having clarity, precision, specificity, and transparency in psychoanalytic education and supervision and (b) establishing learning objectives in facilitating achievement of such clarity and specificity (Cabaniss, 2008 [see Appendix A for developmental learning objectives]; Cabaniss & Arbuckle, 2011;Cabaniss, Glick, & Roose, 2001;Cabaniss & Roose, 1997;Cabaniss, Schein, Glick, & Roose, 2003;Rojas et al., 2010;http://www.psychoanalysis.columbia .edu/sites/default/files/LearningobjectivesRev.pdf). ...
... Where that evaluative clarity, specificity, and transparency are lacking, candidates increasingly can (a) be left to wonder about the specifics of judgment, (b) be apt to experience heightened anxiety about the inscrutable, (c) be likely to conceal potentially important material during supervision, and (d) be prone to experience a compromised learning process as a result (Cabaniss, 2008(Cabaniss, , 2011Cabaniss & Arbuckle, 2011;Cabaniss et al., 2001;Cabaniss & Roose, 1997;Cabaniss et al., 2003;Moga & Cabaniss, in press;Rojas et al., 2010). Concern over these matters is not new and has been with us for some time (e.g., Goldberg, 1996;Kernberg, 1986Kernberg, , 1996Kernberg, , 2000. ...
Introduced by Fleming and Benedek (1964, 1966) half a century ago, the learning alliance has since become widely accepted as crucial for and pivotal to effective process and outcome in psychoanalytic supervision; it is now generally viewed as being the very foundation and touchstone for the totality of the supervisory experience. In this article, I consider how the learning alliance has evolved across its first 50 years, (a) becoming more democratized, relationally focused, mutual, and collaborative in its implementation, (b) reflecting a far less pathologized and pathologizing perspective on supervisees, and (c) incorporating a far deeper appreciation of difference and diversity across the supervisory triad. I also identify a couple of pressing needs that, if pursued and addressed, could contribute substantially to our knowledge base about the learning alliance: (a) vigorously initiating a program of psychoanalytic supervision alliance study, both qualitative and quantitative in nature; and (b) complementing and integrating our understanding of the learning alliance with theories of learning/instruction and educational psychology. Although the learning alliance has "grown" in accordance with relatively recent changes in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic supervision, this 50-year retrospective also bears testament to the enduring nature of Fleming and Benedek's contribution and celebrates the seminal and promethean effect of their work on psychoanalytic supervision today.
... In that sense, contracting is not a legal document, but rather a professional development intervention (Bernard & Goodyear, 2014) that is designed to bring mutual clarity, specificity, and understanding from the outset. Where such clarity, specificity, and understanding are not part of the educational experience, compromised learning becomes a much more pervasive and likely outcome (see Cabaniss, 2008;Cabaniss & Arbuckle, 2011;Cabaniss, Glick, & Roose, 2001;Rojas, Arbuckle, & Cabaniss, 2010). Supervisor supports and reinforces supervisee's desire to learn/understanding for learning, helps supervisee to clarify own aspirations for development, and assists supervisee in diagnosing learning needs The learner's self-concept ...
... Some measures that can assist in that effort are: (1) the mutual formulation of supervision learning objectives; (2) collaborative determination of means by which those objectives can be assessed; and (3) collaborative planning about how to best meet the supervisee's learning needs (cf. Cabaniss, 2008;Knowles, 1980;Knowles et al., 2011;Moga & Cabaniss, 2013). ...
In what primary ways has psychoanalytic supervision evolved over the course of its 100-year plus history? In this paper, I address that question by: (1) sketching out some of the historical differences that have been identified as characterizing the patient-centered, supervisee-centered, and relational-centered supervision perspectives; (2) placing those three perspectives within an adult education framework; and (3) considering their pedagogical (youth-focused) versus andragogical (adult-focused) nature. Based on this examination, I propose the following. Due to the infusion of interpersonal/intersubjective views into the body psychoanalytic, (1) the “maturing” of vision in psychoanalytic supervision (i.e., the movement from a youth-focused to an adult-focused approach to supervision) was made possible; (2) a shift from a supervisory “one-person model times two” to a triadic conceptualization was actuated; (3) traditional perspective on power and authority in supervision was upended; and (4) a more egalitarian, empowering, co-participative approach to supervision emerged and now endures. Attending to the six core principles of adult learning is presented as one primary way in which that “maturing” of vision is most evident in the contemporary practice of psychoanalytic supervision.
... In highlighting these particular competencies I drew upon Tuckett's work, relating these core competencies to his ''frames.' ' Cabaniss (2008' Cabaniss ( , 2011 has been working along similar lines, defining learning objectives for psychodynamic psychotherapists and analytic candidates. For example, she breaks down the primary learning objectives for psychoanalytic interventions into the skill series ''listen, reflect, intervene'' and then tries to specify precisely what needs to be learned for each of these skills. ...
... Given the lamentable absence of process and outcome research in psychoanalytic supervision itself (Watkins 2010), Cabaniss (2008) borrows relevant research from the field of education to define best practices in teaching psychoanalytic psychotherapy skills. In particular she refers to research conducted by Tyler which demonstrated the effectiveness of specifying and operationalizing goals and objectives, designing one's teaching strategy specifically to accomplish them, and later using one's goals and objectives to assess the effectiveness of the teaching process. ...
Existing research from the fields of education, cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychoanalytic psychotherapy points us
toward possibilities for the future of psychoanalytic supervision. This research suggests that we need to go beyond communicating
abstract knowledge and make our supervisory relationships more experiential, participatory, relationship-focused, and personal
in order to teach usable knowledge, develop complex psychotherapeutic skills, and facilitate emotional and relational development
in our supervisees. The author concludes that a relational model of supervision fits this pedagogical profile. After grappling
with our resistances to change, the author hopes that more psychoanalytic supervisors will make use of a relational model
of supervision, as well as drawing upon new technologies and neuroscience-based teaching techniques.
KeywordsPsychoanalytic supervision–Psychodynamic supervision–Relational model of supervision–Neuroscience–Education research–Cognitive science–Psychoanalytic psychotherapy
... We maintain that the use of a written 'overview' document at the outset of psychoanalytic supervision can prove invaluable -a developmental intervention and discussion stimulus designed to get supervision started off in the most favorable fashion. Where lack of educational clarity, specificity, and detail reign, educational confusion, anxiety, conflict, and compromised learning tend to obtain (Cabaniss, 2008(Cabaniss, , 2012Richardson et al., 2020;Rojas et al., 2010). Let us strive to banish any such confusion, anxiety, conflict, and compromised learning -'the fog of supervision' -as we actively engage the adult learner and begin to carry forward the work and wonder of supervision (Vîşcu et al., 2023;Watkins, 2013bWatkins, , 2015a. ...
The authors make the case for using a written instead of a spoken supervision agreement at supervision's outset in order to provide clarity and education about supervision, supply an accessible document that supervisees can readily reference, sidestep memory issues that negatively affect the supervision process, and enable dyadic collaboration that sets an immediate positive tone for supervision. The invitational, clarifying, educational, empowering, and transparent (ICEE-T) supervision agreement approach is described, with emphasis on the essential elements to put in place at the outset of supervision. A written agreement, which is valuable at any supervisee developmental stage, can be invaluable when working with novice supervisees (e.g., because of the anxieties and self-doubt of first-time supervisees) and is explored with that group foremost in mind.
... We maintain that the use of a written 'overview' document at the outset of psychoanalytic supervision can prove invaluable -a developmental intervention and discussion stimulus designed to get supervision started off in the most favorable fashion. Where lack of educational clarity, specificity, and detail reign, educational confusion, anxiety, conflict, and compromised learning tend to obtain (Cabaniss, 2008(Cabaniss, , 2012Richardson et al., 2020;Rojas et al., 2010). Let us strive to banish any such confusion, anxiety, conflict, and compromised learning -'the fog of supervision' -as we actively engage the adult learner and begin to carry forward the work and wonder of supervision (Vîşcu et al., 2023;Watkins, 2013bWatkins, , 2015a. ...
The supervision agreement (also referred to as a contract), while long mentioned as an important part of psychoanalytic supervision, has yet to be addressed in any substantive or concrete way in the psychoanalytic supervision literature. What exactly is a psychoanalytic supervision agreement? Why does it matter? What are its components? How do you implement such an agreement? We consider these questions subsequently, our purpose being to accentuate the written (as opposed to verbal) psychoanalytic supervision agreement as central to (a) making increasingly probable a good supervision beginning and (b) providing a facilitative framework and anchoring container within which the work of supervision can be enabled. We propose that the written supervision agreement, while conceivably valuable at any stage of supervisee development, can be of greatest value to those beginning to provide psychoanalytic treatment services and receive psychoanalytic supervision (i.e. Novice phase supervisees).
... The novelty of the MATRIX as a real-world DP model lies in its dual nature, sparing supervisors the necessity of choosing between the impartation of theoretical knowledge and micro-level skill acquisition. In a more general tone, it responds to the critiques laid against the traditional supervision model (e.g., Adams-Silvan, 1993;Falender & Shafranske, 2017), which mainly concern the ad hoc nature of the common psychodynamic supervision, lacking structure, objectivity, and transparency (Cabaniss, 2008). For example, it is often unclear what aspects of the therapy session should be discussed with the supervisor, and how exactly they would be analyzed (Falender & Shafranske, 2017). ...
Clinical supervision is an essential component of psychotherapeutic practice. However, the literature suggests that the provision of supervision in the public sector has been declining significantly over the past two decades, suggesting that many health care professionals are receiving neither the guidance nor support needed to deliver safe and effective care. Identifying the distinct challenges of supervision in the public sector and proposing prospective solutions is, therefore, a burning issue. In this article, we introduce a novel analytical framework for clinical supervision—the MATRIX—striving to address the unique demands of psychotherapy in the public sector. Various applications of this framework are thoroughly presented and further exemplified using a case illustration. We conclude by discussing the contribution of MATRIX-aided supervision to the acquisition of expert performance in psychotherapy, while also addressing its limitations.
... Students must first acquire a grasp of the material and theoretical concepts of the profession before they can apply what they have studied in school (Madaus, 2004). Tyler's work resulted in the development of a curriculum that shifted from a contentdriven to a student-centered approach to learning (Cabaniss, 2008), and this approach to learning is the fundamental idea of CBE (Clerkin & Simon, 2014;Frank et al., 2010;Haynes et al., 2016). Carroll (1989Carroll ( , 2018, a psychologist, developed and suggested a technique for students to understand what and how they should study. ...
Introduction: There is a preponderance of studies on nurses’ research competency and its benefits to the nursing profession. However, investigations on nursing stu- dents’ research competency in the context of competency-based education (CBE) remain underreported.
Objective: This study investigated the predictors and associations of Saudi nursing students’ research competencies using CBE approach.
Methods: This research used a descriptive, cross-sectional design. A total enumer- ation sampling or census of 347 nursing students from three Saudi Arabian state universities who had finished the nursing research course was used. The 24-item Research Competency Scale for Nursing Students (RCS-N) was utilized to collect data, which was then analyzed using the chi-squared test and logistic regression. Results: Most nursing students were familiar with the nursing research process. There is a strong link between research competencies and age and marks obtained in nursing research course. Age and nursing research course marks (A+/A) were significant predictors of nursing research competency. Thus, students who earned A+/A grades were three times more likely to be competent than those who had lower grades. Similarly, nursing students over the age of 20 years are twice as likely to be research competent as those under 20.
Conclusion: As there are few reports on nursing research competency, CBE helps nursing research instructors create relevant intended learning outcomes (ILOs), al- lowing them to assess each research step's ILOs more efficiently. Additionally, incor- porating functionalist, behaviorist, and constructivist learning theories into the CBE in nursing research course will be more beneficial.
... Students must first acquire a grasp of the material and theoretical concepts of the profession before they can apply what they have studied in school (Madaus, 2004). Tyler's work resulted in the development of a curriculum that shifted from a contentdriven to a student-centered approach to learning (Cabaniss, 2008), and this approach to learning is the fundamental idea of CBE (Clerkin & Simon, 2014;Frank et al., 2010;Haynes et al., 2016). Carroll (1989Carroll ( , 2018, a psychologist, developed and suggested a technique for students to understand what and how they should study. ...
Introduction
There is a preponderance of studies on nurses’ research competency and its benefits to the nursing profession. However, investigations on nursing students’ research competency in the context of competency-based education (CBE) remain underreported.
Objective
This study investigated the predictors and associations of Saudi nursing students’ research competencies using CBE approach.
Methods
This research used a descriptive, cross-sectional design. A total enumeration sampling or census of 347 nursing students from three Saudi Arabian state universities who had finished the nursing research course was used. The 24-item Research Competency Scale for Nursing Students (RCS-N) was utilized to collect data, which was then analyzed using the chi-squared test and logistic regression.
Results
Most nursing students were familiar with the nursing research process. There is a strong link between research competencies and age and marks obtained in nursing research course. Age and nursing research course marks (A+/A) were significant predictors of nursing research competency. Thus, students who earned A+/A grades were three times more likely to be competent than those who had lower grades. Similarly, nursing students over the age of 20 years are twice as likely to be research competent as those under 20.
Conclusion
As there are few reports on nursing research competency, CBE helps nursing research instructors create relevant intended learning outcomes (ILOs), allowing them to assess each research step's ILOs more efficiently. Additionally, incorporating functionalist, behaviorist, and constructivist learning theories into the CBE in nursing research course will be more beneficial.
... Barkley, 2010). As Cabaniss (2008) made clear, much can be learned by examining what is "happening in classrooms from elementary schools to graduate programs" (p. 268). ...
Convergencia en la supervisión de psicoterapia: Una perspectiva de factores comunes, procesos comunes y prácticas comunes
La literatura sobre la supervisión transteórica y de factores comunes es limitada. A pesar de que las similitudes en supervisión son reconocidas, no es común ver perspectivas transteóricas y de factores comunes siendo bien expresadas (Bernard & Goodyear, 2014). Sin embargo, yo afirmo que la supervisión de psicoterapia es guiada fundamentalmente por una rede nomológica de los aspectos comunes vinculantes que ilumina y revigoran, dirigen y determinan la acción del supervisor. En el resto del manuscrito, indentifico 50 aspectos (no exhaustivos) comunes campartidos por todos los supervisores a través de 9 áreas de práctica: características de la persona siendo supervisadas, cualidades del supervisor, cambios de proceso del supervisado, estructura de supervisión, elementos de la relación de la supervisión, principios comunes de la supervisión, tareas del supervisor, roles del supervisor y prácticas comunes de supervisión. Yo sostengo que a pesar de que el supervisor practique a través de una escuela de supervisión especifica (e.g., psicoanalítica, cognitiva), la práctica va a ser afectada por y entregada a través de los aspectos comunes identificados aquí. Estos aspectos comunes convergen para formar lo que pueden llamarse factores comunes, procesos comunes, prácticas comunes en las perspectivas de los supervisores. También sostengo que la supervisión de psicoterapia es eminentemente un ente educativa, una experiencia de aprendizaje para el adulto (e.g., Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2015), y esta en su mejor forma cuando estas realidades son consistentemente integradas en nuestra conceptualización de supervisión y de la conducta.
... To avoid this unwieldy complexity, a more optimized association technique is needed. If we restrict association to only one dimension, the results become highly standardized and can be processed, interpreted, and even compiled, on an organizational level (Bachrach, Galatzer-Levy, & Skolnikoff, 1991;Cabaniss, 2008). This allows for a comparison of associations and can provide insight into the organizational thinking of a company (Diamond, 1988). ...
... As Cabaniss et al. state in their paper here, "Use of objectives in psychotherapy supervision will enhance the supervisee's experience of supervision; help supervisors to direct learning in supervision; help supervisors, supervisees, and program directors to know whether trainees are attaining goals; and help programs to alter supervisory techniques." Where such learning objectives are lacking, confusion, anxiety, disorganization, and compromised learning may well be the result for supervisees (Cabaniss, 2008;Rojas et al., 2010). But as Cabaniss et al. make clear, it does not have to be that way; they indicate, instead, that learning objectives can be used as anchoring ground and organizer for the entirety of the supervision process, and they show what needs to be done to make that so. ...
What are some of the most recent, cutting-edge developments and innovations in psychotherapy supervision? And what is their particular significance for supervision now and into its future? In this special supervision issue of the American Journal of Psychotherapy, those questions are considered, and some compelling answers are provided. In what follows, I introduce this special journal issue: (a) define supervision and indicate its purposes; (b) summarize the contents of each innovative paper; and (c) accentuate the significance of each presented development/innovation. The papers contained in this issue boldly speak to supervision's future and provide exciting—and highly profitable— directions to pursue in forever making psychotherapy supervision a far more anchored, accountable, and educational experience.
... This contrasts with typical academic settings where the costs, timetable, and expectations of training are communicated clearly in advance and are usually not subject to negotiation. Several authors (e.g., Cabaniss 2008;Tuckett 2005) have made efforts to clarify and objectify educational expectations in psychoanalytic training; however, expectations regarding cost and time required to complete training have remained nebulous. Candidates in this study are confirming their very real concerns about their ability to afford psychoanalytic training in the current economic climate. ...
A national survey of candidates was conducted to identify motivations for pursuing psychoanalytic training, obstacles that prevent progression or completion, and candidates' ideas on how best to increase interest among potential trainees. In 2009-2010, 40 percent of candidates on the affiliate member e-mail list completed an anonymous web-based survey. Candidates strongly endorsed contact with a personal psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, or supervisor as the most important influence in discovering psychoanalysis and deciding to pursue training. They identified the total cost of analytic training as the greatest obstacle. This was followed by the cost of personal analysis, loss of income for low-fee cases, time away from family, and difficulty finding cases. To enhance training, local institutes should work to improve institute atmosphere and provide assistance with finding cases; national organizations should increase outreach activities and publicize psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic institutes could recruit future candidates by working to increase personal contact with psychoanalysts, reducing the cost of training, improving institute atmosphere, assisting with case-finding, enhancing outreach activities, and widely publicizing psychoanalysis. Narrative comments from candidates and the implications of these findings regarding engagement of future trainees are discussed.
... While in one way or another those three matters (competence, evidence, accountability) have always been of concern to supervisors, they are being far more explicitly, specifically, and comprehensively addressed now than at any other time in the history of supervision. Competency initiatives within the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) provide us with excellent examples of that Falender and Shafranske 2004, 2007, 2008Roth and Pilling 2008;Turpin and Wheeler 2011). The beauty of a competency-based approach is that it ''… provides an explicit framework and method to initiate, develop, implement, and evaluate the processes and outcomes of supervision'' (Falender and Shafranske 2004, p. 20). ...
Psychotherapy supervision has increasingly become or is on the fast track to becoming competency-based, evidence-based, particularized,
and accountable. In this paper, I explore how that appears to be so by: (1) briefly considering the concepts of “competencies”
and “evidence-based practice” as preeminent guides for psychotherapy supervision practice and training; and (2) briefly reviewing
the current status, pressing needs, and future possibilities of psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic-existential,
and integrative psychotherapy supervision. Based on my examination, the following conclusions are proposed: (1) the supervision relationship, individualization, developmental differentiation, and self-reflection (for supervisee and supervisor) appear to be crucial cornerstones for the conceptualization and actuation of supervision process and practice
across psychotherapy-based supervision approaches; (2) all indications suggest that three emphases—competency-based supervision, evidence-based practice, and accountability—will continue to substantially influence, affect, and inform psychotherapy supervision practice for its near and distant
future; (3) psychotherapy-based supervision approaches will need to be and indeed appear to now be in the process of becoming
increasingly particularized in how each of their respective approach-specific competencies are defined and explicated; and
(4) psychotherapy supervision has come to be increasingly viewed as an educational process and practice that is best facilitated
by: (a) a rich and enriching supervision training environment that vigorously addresses and attempts to meaningfully integrate
declarative, procedural, and reflective knowledge bases throughout the supervisory endeavor; and (b) the considered and deliberate
utilization of facilitative technology that has the potential to substantially enhance and expand the value of the supervisee’s
training/supervision experiences. Some discussion is provided about those four conclusions, and a retrofitted psychotherapy
supervision for the new millennium is considered.
KeywordsPsychotherapy supervision–Competency-based supervision–Evidence-based supervision–Psychotherapy-based supervision approaches–Clinical supervision
... This situation may call for a re appraisal of training requirements and earlier and more systematized ways of giving feedback to candidates who are not meeting the requirements. The use of learning objectives or a clear framework to assess competence may assist in clarifying and objectifying progression and graduation and reducing confusion and mistrust among candidates (Cabaniss 2008;Tuckett 2005). ...
To better focus efforts in recruiting psychoanalytic candidates, current candidates' demographics, practice patterns, and satisfaction with psychoanalytic training were investigated. An anonymous web-based survey was distributed by e-mail to all candidates subscribing to the affiliate member e-mail list in 2009-2010. Surveys were completed by 226 of 565 affiliate members, for a return rate of 40%. The majority of respondents were women 45 to 64 years of age, married, with a doctoral degree, in private practice, with an annual household income of over $100,000. Most candidates devoted 11 to 30 hours a week to training and had no analysts or candidates in their workplace. Almost half had considered training for more than four years before matriculation, with financial issues cited most frequently as delaying entry. Over 80% of respondents were satisfied with their training. The most frequently cited reasons for dissatisfaction were a negative institute atmosphere, concerns about teaching or the curriculum, and difficulty finding cases. Candidates in training for eight years or more accounted for almost 20% of the group and were more often dissatisfied with training. This study demonstrates that the majority of current candidates are satisfied with training but suggests that recruitment may become increasingly difficult unless factors related to time, cost, case finding, graduation requirements, and institute atmosphere can be addressed.
The Columbia Academy for Psychoanalytic Educators supports graduate analysts’ professional development at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. In 2018, a pilot program was launched for faculty interested in analyzing and supervising candidates, whose aim is to support and educate those interested in taking on these essential training functions. The focus is on educating the educators, which is a significant departure from the historical focus on evaluation, vetting, and faculty hierarchies. In the process of developing and piloting the program, complex and long debated issues in psychoanalytic education and development were considered that are relevant to many institutes, including training of supervisors and analysts of candidates, addressing problematic faculty hierarchies, creating safety for those presenting clinical work to colleagues, building professional peer relationships, and engagement of faculty in time consuming and nonremunerative activities. The authors report on their experience developing and evaluating this pilot program.
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered clinical practice in immeasurable ways. This article expands this discussion by exploring the impact of the COVID pandemic, its restrictions, and the co-occurring events of social unrest, protests, and violence on the teaching and learning of psychoanalysis in a clinical training context. In our experiential accounts we explore the dynamics of identity, the dynamics of power, and the dynamics of clinical presence.
While Freud was often ambivalent about the clinical aspects of psychoanalysis,he remained enamored of his theory of the mind and elaborated it over the entire course of his life. Occasionally, an analyst identified himself or herself as making major additions or alternatives to Freud’s original definition, leading to separate schools of psychoanalysis. Technique, on the other hand, was often assumed to remain the same with the analyst’s role severely constricted with regard to interactive warmth and caring. Why is this? The answer lies in the perception that a treatment depending significantly on the personality and life experience of the analyst cannot be generalized but would be judged as the influence of a powerful analyst acting according to his or her individuality. Who benefits from such a distancing stance on the analyst’s part? Certainly not the patient, but definitely not the analyst. For analysts, the need to have psychoanalysis survive as a therapy that can compete as the one therapy based upon an intimate and deep experience of mutual understanding, requires that it radically change from the vision of its founder, brilliant and creative as it was when he became the first psychoanalyst and the father of psychoanalysis.
Research over several decades has identified significant problems with the progression model—the traditional approach to assessment and advancement of psychoanalytic candidates—including candidates’ anxiety and uncertainty about the methods and fairness of their assessment, avoidance of conflictual issues with patients in order to keep cases, and reluctance to share their challenges with supervisors and advisors. In light of these findings, the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research restructured its psychoanalytic training programs. The progression committee, the progression advisor role, candidate application to advance through the program, and routine committee discussion of candidates were eliminated and replaced by confidential mentorship and a clear and predictable system of trainee advancement. Analytic competency–a requirement for graduation–is now determined solely from detailed written feedback regarding the candidate’s achievement of the Center’s learning objectives. The number of months of supervised analysis required for graduation has been reduced, as has the required length of the candidate’s longest case; in addition, three-times-weekly analyses are now accepted for credit. These changes are meant to increase the transparency, objectivity, and predictability of the training experience and reduce the pressure on clinical decision making and communication between trainees and faculty. An extensive evaluation of the impact of these innovations is currently under way.
En este artículo se presenta el proceso de implementación de algunas prácticas para la evaluación del progreso del candidato con el fin de fomentar el valor educativo de las mismas, dado que una amplia serie de retos intra-psíquicos viene a sumarse a las diversas complejidades que traen consigo los requisitos para formarse como psicoanalista. Cuatro prácticas integralmente interrelacionadas permiten reconocer la sensibilidad inherente a las vivencias de los candidatos durante la formación en general, y de ser evaluados en particular. Al ser aplicadas en conjunto, el proceso evaluativo del Instituto se transforma en una experiencia más cuidadosa, promoviendo además una actitud psicoanalítica, y disminuye la intrusión de las respuestas personales del evaluador. La primera práctica consiste en definir y hacer uso de un criterio concertado para la inmersión clínica, cuyo fundamento se establece con la demostración del desarrollo y profundización de un proceso analítico, así como también del progreso del candidato en la adquisición de habilidades psicoanalíticas. La segunda consiste en la instauración amplia en el Instituto de la aplicación de directrices para evaluación del progreso y de la graduación del candidato, que son claramente explicadas a todos los candidatos y profesores. La tercera es una comunicación puntual y transparente entre los candidatos, sus supervisores, y consejeros de progresión, en donde prime un sentido de colaboración en torno a los principales avances del candidato. La cuarta es llevar a cabo un proceso de revisión sistemático y en profundidad sobre los progresos del candidato dentro del marco de una relación de consejería que permita revisar y hacer un balance personal de todos estos elementos. La implementación y el impacto educativo de estas prácticas son tomadas en consideración en el caso de un candidato.
There is a great deal of disagreement about the definition and therapeutic value of an analytic process (AP). Does it exist? If it does, how to determine its presence, how to measure it, and in what kinds of treatments does it occur? In this article I highlight some of the literature from the “classical” school (such as by members of a COPE Study Group from the American Psychoanalytic Association (Committee on Psychoanalytic Education)), as well as from Theodore Jacobs, whom I consider to be an intermediate figure, and members of the “relational/interpersonal” school: Philip Bromberg, Edgar Levenson, and Donnel Stern. This selective review reveals three broad conceptualizations of the AP. It occurs (1) within the patient and is understood by the analyst via the patient’s words; (2) within the patient as revealed to the analyst both by the patient’s words and actions as well as by the analyst’s understanding of his or her own subjective experience in response to the analysand; and (3) as a result of the real interaction between patient and analyst, and not as a result of the vicissitudes of the patient’s transferences. All of these conceptualizations maintain that the AP can only be observed in the flow of what occurs between analysand and analyst over a period of time. Some empirical measures, which assess the presence or absence of an AP are noted. Yet, they are not generally employed in theoretical or clinical discussions, including supervision. Four decades ago, Brian Bird noted that “conclusions [about the analytic process] stem more often from assertions than from evidence and reasonable inferences.” This article emphasizes that analysts need to integrate systematic empirical studies with clinical approaches.
Many aspects of the institutional life and organizational functioning of psychoanalysis deal with and are affected by evaluation. This paper focuses on one manifestation of this difficulty, namely the evaluation of candidates in psychoanalytic training. Opinions vary regarding its place, necessity, and contribution. Although it is at least nominally practiced in many institutes, it is nonetheless fraught with difficulty. We explore some of the sources and nature of what hampers the function of evaluation of candidates, employing Bion’s Basic Assumptions and their effect on institutional dynamics. Related issues include the ambiguity surrounding the role and authority of the supervisory role and the present theoretical diversity. The role and function of the supervisor is central to this evaluation and focal in our discussion. Our presentation draws on and makes use of the findings of the EPF End of Training Evaluation Project (ETEP).
El autor propone un enfoque para la evaluación de los candidatos que está basado en un esquema relacionado a la competencia del candidato. El protocolo se basa en una noción central por la cual al conocer las competencias que deberían esperar un buen funcionamiento nos deja bien ubicados par conocer qué capacidades y, lo que es más importante, qué capacidades potenciales, deberíamos buscar en nuestros postulantes. El autor está preocupado por los métodos de la entrevista tradicional que se usaron porque son individualistas y que no pueden ser abarcadores, con lo cual no es fácil enseñar. Destaca que el protocolo descripto tiene ventajas distintas como si una evaluación dominara la tradicional, en tanto tome criterios claros, consistentes, así como una metodología con la que se puede trabajar. El autor destaca, como ventaja especial, la flexibilidad del protocolo en que puede moverse fluidamente desde funcionar como un instrumento para la selección hasta ser un instrumento para el candidato. Esto permite, en situaciones de duda, para competencias particulares en un candidato que será evaluado y seguido en su trayectoria mientras “esté en el campo”.
Approaches to fostering the educational value of candidate evaluation are presented, in view of the plethora of intra-psychic challenges that combine with many other complexities of learning to work as an analyst. Four integrally interrelated practices have been found to address sensitivities inherent in candidates' experience of training in general, and being evaluated in particular. When applied in concert, the institute's evaluative process not only becomes more considered, but also better promotes a psychoanalytic attitude and minimizes the intrusion of evaluators' personal responses. The first is defining and employing in synergy criteria for clinical immersion based on demonstration of the development and deepening of an analytic process, as well as the development of psychoanalytic competencies. The second is mandating institute-wide application of guidelines for assessment of progression/graduation that are clearly explicated to all candidates and faculty. The third is transparent and timely communication between candidates and their supervisors and progression advisors regarding progress essential to a sense of collaboration. Fourth the progression review process must be systematic and in-depth, with built-in consultative relationships serving as checks and balances on personal elements. The implementation and educational impact of these practices are considered in the case of one candidate.
Given that surveys, as well as frequent observations by institute faculty, indicate that many candidates have difficulty finding control cases and maintaining immersion and that many graduate analysts face similar challenges, it would seem that psychoanalytic training does not prepare candidates adequately for finding patients and practicing analysis while in training and, for many, after they have graduated. Although external challenges are formidable, it is by identifying and making use of internal challenges to finding cases that candidates can develop an analytic mind: the identity, approach, and skills necessary not only to graduate but to have the choice to practice clinical psychoanalysis post-graduation. Some of the internal challenges and their manifestations in different phases of initiating analysis (referrals, initial consultation, recommendation) are discussed and two detailed examples are offered to illustrate the productive use of candidates’ countertransferences in finding cases and maintaining immersion. Finally, recommendations for institutional solutions are provided.
The author proposes an approach to the assessment of analytic applicants that is based on a schema relating to candidate competence. The protocol relies on the central notion that knowing what competencies we would be expecting of well-functioning analysts leaves us well placed to know what capacities, and more importantly what potential capacities, we would be looking for in our aspiring applicants. The author is concerned that the traditional interview methods used have been rather individualistic, lacking in comprehensiveness and therefore not easy to teach. He makes a case for the described protocol having distinct advantages as an assessment tool over the traditional one, in that that it has clear, consistent, and comprehensive criteria, as well as a workable methodology. The author notes, as a particular advantage, the protocol's flexibility in being able to move fluidly from functioning as an instrument for selection, to an instrument for candidate evaluation. This allows, in situations of doubt, for particular competencies in a candidate to be further evaluated and tracked in an ongoing way whilst 'in the field'.
Copyright © 2015 Institute of Psychoanalysis.
What are the competences required to satisfactorily practice effective or “good enough” psychoanalytic supervision? In this paper, I would like to consider that question. Over the past approximate 15-year period, increasing attention has been directed toward more specifically identifying and defining the components of competent psychoanalytic practice. But any parallel attention toward identifying and defining the components of competent psychoanalytic supervision practice has, in comparison, been sorely limited if not virtually absent. If we are to best practice competent psychoanalytic supervision and best train future psychoanalytic supervisors for competent practice, effort needs to be made to concretely delineate the competences that are requisite for such practice. In what follows, I present and adapt six broad-based families of internationally relevant supervision competence areas for use in psychoanalytic supervision: (1) knowledge about/understanding of psychoanalytic supervision models, methods, and intervention; (2) knowledge about/skill in attending to matters of ethical, legal, and professional concern; (3) knowledge about/skill in managing psychoanalytic supervision relationship processes; (4) knowledge about/skill in conducting psychoanalytic supervisory assessment and evaluation; (5) knowledge about/skill in fostering attention to difference and diversity; and (6) openness to/utilization of a self-reflective, self-assessment stance in psychoanalytic supervision. Although by no means an exhaustive list, 30 supervision competences (five per family) are proposed as significant for guiding competent psychoanalytic supervision practice and supervisor training, and a brief explanatory comment is offered in support of each broad-based family of competences.
Psychoanalytic supervision, as presented here, is considered to be a formative, developmental learning experience that is preeminently educational in its mission, process, and product. Such an educational experience, where various types of personal and professional learning occur, would seem ideally informed by, guided by, and grounded in educational theory and educational psychology. Yet psychoanalytic supervision has, with notable international exceptions (e.g., Gordan, 1997; Szecsödy, 1997), generally lacked for any such grounding and has primarily appeared to traditionally rely upon psychoanalytic conceptions of personality and treatment to direct supervision practice. Although that conceptual reliance is necessary, it is not a sufficient base for the conduct of psychoanalytic supervision. Drawing on work from the fields of learning, educational psychology, and teacher education, a tri-phasic, common-language structure—learning alliance (LA) building and maintenance, learning interventions (LI), and learning/relearning (LR)—for thinking about and guiding psychoanalytic supervision conceptualization and practice is presented and considered. The supervisory process is envisioned as involving both new learning and relearning (corrective cognitive, corrective affective, and corrective behavioral experiences), each stage is linked predominantly with a particular learning domain and specific type of learning, and common features and factors of trans-theoretical significance across stages are identified. The LA/LI/LR model involves continued supervisee cycling and recycling through the feel-think-do (or some variation) of the perspective’s three stages; the LA building and maintenance stage, however, is seen as being the conceptualization’s foundation and touchstone. This learning-based view provides a useful structure for thinking about psychoanalytic supervision within a more unified, educationally-informed framework.
Clearly delineated, measureable learning objectives guide most educational enterprises today. Psychoanalytic supervision is no exception. Other types of psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), have clear objectives that guide both supervision and assessment. A review of the various sets of objectives that have been outlined for psychoanalytic supervision reveals that they share most of their basic tenets. Using objectives for supervision has clear advantages for candidates, the supervisory dyad, psychoanalytic institutes, and the field at large. Widespread use of objectives may be facilitated by having individual institutes develop their own objectives based on consensually agreed upon broadly outlined templates.
Although learning objectives, often in the form of competencies, are now standard for training mental health professionals, they are not generally used to guide psychotherapy supervision. Nevertheless, when learning objectives are not used to guide supervision, supervisors and supervisees often remain uncertain about the goals of supervision, how those goals should be attained, and how they should be assessed. In this paper we review the literature on learning objectives for psychotherapy training and supervision, outline reasons for using learning objectives in psychotherapy supervision, and suggest ways to use learning objectives in training.
I believe that psychoanalytic education is suffering from serious disturbances, which, by analogy, might be examined as an illness affecting the educational structures of psychoanalytic institutes and societies. After describing the symptoms of this illness, I shall explore its causes and suggest a possible course of treatment. My objective is not to present "ideal solutions" to problems, but to provide a theoretical frame that might facilitate such solutions.
Control cases conducted by candidates as part of their training are different in many ways from other analyses. The most important difference is that candidates must receive credit for cases in order to graduate. To study how training requirements influence candidates' analytic technique, a survey was conducted of all candidates at Columbia who were treating at least one control case. Sixty percent of respondents reported that the need to obtain credit had influenced their technique in at least one of their cases in one or more of the following areas: interpretation, fee setting, charging for missed sessions, scheduling of sessions, writing up the case, and presenting in supervision. Thus, training requirements. specifically the need to obtain credit for cases, affected the analytic technique of a majority of candidates surveyed. This effect is better conceptualized as a shared common experience of training than as a specific countertransference reaction in individual candidates.
The author explores some central problems in contemporary psychoanalytic education. He compares strengths and limitations of the two dominant models of psychoanalytic training, the traditional Eitingon model and the French model, and reviews current efforts to modify these models in order to overcome their limitations. In examining problems common to both educational systems, the author highlights the following issues: a tendency to infantilise psychoanalytic candidates, a persisting trend towards isolation from the scientific community, a lack of consistent concern for the total educational experience of candidates, authoritarian management and a denial of the effects of external, social reality on psychoanalytic education. Proposed solutions to these problems include: a stress on 'step-by-step' evaluation of candidates' progression, a greater emphasis on the cognitive aspects of seminars and supervision, particularly, a systematic exploration of the psychoanalytic method and its applications, a re-examination of the usefulness of the function of the training analyst status, an integration of teaching and practical experience in systematic research, and the incorporation of contemporary educational methods as part of the strengthening of the academic ambience of psychoanalytic institutes. The author concludes with a list of fifteen questions that may provide a quick indication of how for a psychoanalytic institute has progressed with the work of educational innovation.
Anonymous questionnaires were sent to all candidates and supervisors at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (hereafter "Columbia"). Questions focused on the four domains most emphasized in the literature on supervision: logistical issues; the "teach or treat" question; the evaluatory function of the supervisor; and the affective experience of supervision. By coding the questionnaires, anonymity of respondents was maintained while allowing for a matched pair of analyses of supervisors and supervisees. Return rate was over 85 percent. In general, rates of satisfaction with supervision were high, and candidates and supervisors agreed on such issues as the "teach or treat" question, as well as the technical and theoretical frame of reference of the supervisor. However, there were striking disagreements between candidates and supervisors as to the role of the supervisor, what candidates find useful in supervision, the evaluatory function, and the relation between supervision and progression to graduation. Although 50 percent of candidates reported anxiety about receiving credit for cases, this was not routinely discussed in supervision, and the supervisory relationship itself was not discussed in over 50 percent of dyads. Despite high overall satisfaction ratings, 25 percent of candidates said they wished they had a different supervisor for the case, and 75 percent believed that a candidate who asked to switch supervisors would be labeled problematic. In contrast, over 75 percent of supervisors reported that switching supervisors carries no stigma. In a follow-up study conducted one year later, many candidates reported that they feared reprisals for switching, and some reported that their training analysts advised against "rocking the boat." Candidates felt that participating in the study emboldened them to think more openly about supervision and in some cases to make changes.
This study documents the criteria for graduation and for awarding credit for training cases used by thirteen institutes of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA). At the time of this study, these thirteen institutes were training 63% of all candidates enrolled at institutes of the APsA. Questionnaires were sent to the progression committee chairperson (PCC), a junior candidate and a senior candidate, and a recent graduate at each institute. Each participant also had a follow-up semi-structured telephone interview. Return rate was 100%. 92% per cent of the institutes reported that in order to receive credit for cases, the patient needed to be in treatment for some minimum amount of time (average 18.3 months). Many PCCs were skeptical about writing down the criteria for credit, stating that this made candidates overly focused on the time requirement. 85% per cent of PCCs felt that graduation from the institute was based primarily on obtaining credit for cases. Few required a terminated case and only one felt that classroom work was an important factor. 47% per cent of candidates felt that the need to keep patients in treatment to receive credit for cases affected their treatment of patients and only 46% of candidates could state the minimum time requirement used by their institute. These results indicate that graduation from institutes of the APsA depends primarily on receiving credit for cases, that case length is an important criterion for awarding credit and that this method of evaluating candidates may not be the best way to support educational objectives.
It has been difficult to know what does and does not constitute competent psychoanalytic work and so equally difficult to assess when it is being practised and when it is not. This makes difficult any form of disciplined evaluation of the outcome of training, which has a series of problematic outcomes for psychoanalytic practice, psychoanalytic institutions and the relationship to allied disciplines and professions. In this paper, the author considers how far it might be possible to devise aframework for assessment of training programmes within a disciplined psychoanalytic pluralism. The aspiration is to develop a transparent framework, based on an empirically supported demonstration of analytic capacity. The framework needs to be sensitive and subtle, and to be able to withstand challenge. It needs to take cognisance of the twin facts that there is more than one way to practise psychoanalysis and that it is necessary to avoid 'anything goes'. Drawing on an ongoing project undertaken by European IPA institutes, the author describes some of the problems colleagues have been experiencing in European institutes, because they have not had available transparent criteria for assessment. He outlines a preliminary form of a proposed method for making more transparent and supportable assessment. The author intends for this paper to inspire hope, enquiry and debate.
Hate and Love in Psychoanalytic Institutions: The Dilemma of a Profession
- J Reeder
Reeder, J. (2004), Hate and Love in Psychoanalytic Institutions: The Dilemma of a Profession. New York: Other Press.
The selection and function of the training analyst in North American institutes
- S Orgel
Orgel, S. (1982), The selection and function of the training analyst in North American institutes. Internat. Rev. Psycho-Anal., 9:417–434.
Understanding by Design Association for Super-vision and Curriculum Design
- G Wiggins
- J Mctighe
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