Sub-Project 2: Promoting Research in Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Clinical Training

Stetson University

Investigators

Jesse Fox (Sub-Project PI)

Joe Currier

Cassandra Vieten

Advisory Board

An Advisory Board has been assembled to make recommendations and advise awardees throughout the course of their projects.
Learn more about them here.

Purpose

Sub-Project 2 will catalyze research in R/S competencies and generate empirically supported resources, tools, and methods for equipping students/trainees with skills to address R/S aspects of clients’ lives. In so doing, this sub-project will increase options for clinical training that a practicum/internship programs could viably incorporate in supervision, didactics, and other activities.

Background

• Clinical training in practicum and internship settings is the signature pedagogy in fostering acquisition of clinical skills in mental health graduate and post-graduate programs

• R/S competencies are rarely included in clinical training in a systematic or formal manner across psychology, social work, counseling, and MFT programs

• Absence of assessment tools and empirically supported training methods are key barriers to promoting skill-based competencies in addressing R/S in clinical practice

• Research has not examined a range of questions for establishing a scientific basis for clinical training in R/S competencies, including:

1. What are effective methods of measuring R/S competencies?

2. What are best methods and practices for promoting acquisition of R/S competencies in clinical training?

3. To what extent does R/S competence actually improve outcomes and client functioning in clinical settings?

Plan

• $1,153,150 over the three-year period to support a Request for Funding Proposal (RFP) grant competition

• Partner with and fund 12-15 clinician-scientists from psychology, social work, counseling, and marriage and family therapy 

• Maximum funding approvals up to $120,000 USD with an average award amount of $77,000 USD across 12-15 independent projects

Projects will address one or more of these priorities:

• Validation of assessment tools, techniques, and/or measures of R/S competencies that are robust indicators of clinician competence

• Development and evaluation of high-impact clinical training practices in R/S competence

• Examining the role of R/S competencies in client outcomes, feasibility, and/or clinical processes

Investigators will also:

• Include longitudinal assessments, randomized controlled trials, and/or practice-based evidence designs

• Tie development of practical tools/resources from assessment/training to the assessment of clinical outputs, feasibility outputs, and client outputs

• Identify and develop a training tool, technique, method and/or tangible measure for influencing or assessing R/S competencies to enhance training and future research in R/S competence

• Pre-register their projects on the Open Science Framework, and all results, datasets, tools/instruments will be open-source

• Attend two-day investigator meeting at project start and three-day capstone conference held at Stetson University to catalyze a new research community

• Contribute a chapter to the “Handbook of Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Mental Health Professions”