Intervention Competency

Abstract

Competency in intervention typically refers to an area of activity and has been broadly defined as 'activities that promote, restore, sustain, and/or enhance positive functioning and a sense of well-being in clients through preventive, developmental, and/or remedial services' (Peterson, Peterson, Abrams, & Stricker, 1997, p. 380). Competency also implicitly refers to a level of performance that is context sensitive, requiring judgment, acumen, and flexibility (Barber, Sharpless, Klostermann, & McCarthy, 2007; Binder, 2004). In an earlier book addressing the professional program training model and curriculum, Bent and Cox (1991) focused on widening the boundaries defining the intervention competency beyond the traditional area of psychotherapy. Whereas intervention does, indeed, cover wider boundaries now, there still is much to learn about and improve in the training of the core intervention competence, psychotherapy. Consequently, we focus on psychotherapeutic interventions by defining this competency in terms of a core cluster of knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) and by tracking its developmental benchmarks. We also suggest elements of a prototypic curriculum, discuss pedagogical issues associated with psychotherapy training, and describe issues associated with evaluating intervention competence. To provide an overview of the current consensus about the nature of the intervention competency, we draw primarily from the NCSPP DALs and incorporate content from the other two documents where adding to the DALs description would enrich the concept or provide ideas for assessment. Following the format of the DALs, we present the intervention competency organized into the four domains: (a) planning, (b) implementation, (c) evaluation, and (d) ethics. For each domain, we enumerate a set of KSAs that a student should have attained at three major stages of training: (a) beginning practicum, (b) beginning internship, and (c) completing a doctoral degree. The composition of the intervention competency is presented in Table 6.1 to aid readers in assimilating the information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)