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Project Title: Counseling Active Duty Service Members: What are Critical Professional Competencies?
Submission Date: January 16, 2015 Applicant Information:
Jennifer M. Taylor, Ph.D. West Virginia University
Department of Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling & Counseling Psychology 504-E Allen Hall
PO Box 6122
Morgantown, WV 26506-6122 Telephone: (304) 293-2176 Fax: (304) 293-4082
E-mail: [email protected] Additional Collaborators from WVU:
Jeff Daniels, Ph.D. Monica Leppma, Ph.D. Hannah Greenbaum, M.A. Melissa Foster, M.Ed. Rachel Spero, M.S. Jes Leonard, M.S.
Counseling Active Duty Service Members: What are Critical Professional Competencies? Project Abstract
Although competence is paramount to mental health care fields, little attention has been devoted to empirically examining what it means to be a competent professional, despite repeated calls for greater attention to issues of competence (e.g., APA, 2006; Belar, 2009; Wise et al., 2010). While recent attention has focused on developing various definitions and conceptualizations of professional competence in the general field of psychology, the absence of adequate research on specific competencies for military psychologists, mental health counselors, school counselors, and rehabilitation counselors has continued to hamper the field’s movement toward a “culture of competence” (Roberts, Borden, Christiansen, & Lopez, 2005).
Many mental health professionals work with military service members who likely have special needs in counseling. However, very little research has actually explored this hypothesis. The purpose of the present study is to explore critical domains of professional competence for
military psychologists in support of the field’s movement towards empirically-driven, competent practice. Through an extensive literature review, various competency domains for military psychologists have been outlined (e.g., cross-cultural competencies, knowledge of the military rank structure, knowledge of PTSD) (Center for Deployment Psychology, 2013; Culhane et al., 2013). The proposed Delphi study will examine the needs of service members in support of tailoring therapy and the training of psychologists in ways that are meaningful for working with this unique cultural group. West Virginia has a large proportion of military service members. This study will support West Virginia University’s mission as a land-grant institution by investigating the needs of our community members who are in the military and by providing empirical support for training psychologists in competencies that are most critical for working with military populations.
This Delphi study will explore relevant competencies for counseling psychologists who work with active-duty military personnel. Expert military psychologists will be invited to participate in this Delphi study, which will utilize a mixed-methods approach. In the first round of the study, participants will be asked to rate the importance of several competency domains (gathered from an extensive literature review) in relation to working with military populations. In the first round, participants will also be invited to add competency domains that were not yet included in the study. In the second round of polling, participants will be provided with the means and standard deviations of each item from the first round of polling and will be asked to rate the importance of the competency domains once again. In the final round, participants will be provided with the means and standard deviations for all items (including the items participants added in the first round of polling). Participants will be asked to rate the importance of competency domains one final time, with the goal of creating greater consensus among a group of experts in the field. The results from this study will add to the developing literature on important components of competence when working with military service members. This study will represent a
preliminary attempt to develop a broad and valid tool to explore professional competencies for military psychologists. Upon completion of the study, both research and professional
to the maintenance and demonstration of professional competence and its ongoing movement towards increased specialization in the field of military psychology.
Research exploring competent practice is crucial and devoid in the current empirical literature. An ongoing attention to professional competence is essential to clinical practice (Hoge et al., 2005) and may even translate to better clinical outcomes. Beutler et al. (1986), for example, discovered that therapists with high perceived degrees of competence also tended to have more favorable clinical outcomes. As the field of psychology progresses towards a “culture of competence” both in relation to defining and measuring competencies (Belar, 2009), this study seeks to advance this “culture of competence” by exploring competencies that are most relevant for military psychologists. The primary purpose of this study will be to support graduate training programs in psychology as they educate the next generation of psychologists to work with military service members through exploration and emphasis on critical competency domains. Project Objectives, Actions, & Deliverables
The objective of this project is to explore important competency domains for psychologists who work with active-duty military service members.
Connection to Professional Interests
The development and maintenance of “professional competence” has become a critical keystone in the foundation of a wide range of interdisciplinary practices within educational, regulatory, and certification contexts. The conceptualization and documentation of professional contexts represents a critical point of convergence among otherwise divergent constituencies. A focus on the development and documentation of interdisciplinary, multicultural, and evidence-based practices is a key component of the evidence-based competency movement, and much of my work addresses aspects of this development. Emphasizing the qualitative transformation of needs and competencies across the course of the professional lifespan, my program of research
addresses early developmental precursors to competence, such as effective mentoring and self-care, through the later stages of professional development which can be marked by distinction, on the one hand (e.g., American Board of Professional Psychology certification) or disciplinary action, on the other. My overall program of research is designed to provide an evidence-based approach to understanding, generating, and maintaining professional competence across the professional lifespan. It includes conceptual and empirical expressions as this rapidly developing field advances within a broadly interdisciplinary context, both informing, and being informed by, developments within allied fields of health. As a first-year assistant professor, I recently co-edited a book (Continuing Professional Development and Lifelong Learning: Issues, Impacts, and Outcomes), co-authored seven book chapters, co-authored 15 peer-reviewed articles, and presented 25 posters, papers, and symposia at regional, national, and international conferences that relate to competent practice. The present study would build on and enhance my research agenda by exploring critical competency domains for mental health professionals serving a specific population.
This program of research connects not only with my immediate research interests, but also the interests of some of my colleagues at West Virginia University. While much of my research explores the maintenance and enhancement of professional competence, my colleagues have a
particular interest in studying military personnel in support of serving them most effectively. Thus, my research collaborators and I would benefit from the PERC grant, because it would support our mutual professional interests in enhancing the professional competence of mental health professionals who work with special populations. We are also involving several doctoral students who share an interest in military populations to act as fellow researchers in this project, so financial support for this project would also help them as they engage in more empirical research during their doctoral training.
Connections to PERC
This project responds specifically to two of WVU’s strategic plan goals, and hence, goals of the PERC.
Strategic Plan Goal 1: Engage…students in a challenging academic environment. Aside from PERC graduate assistance, three doctoral students in the Counseling Psychology program will aid in this research.
Strategic Plan Goal 2: Excel in research, creativity and innovation. This research builds upon cutting edge research on helping professionals by investigating relevant competencies, crucial for serving military personnel and their families. This study is designed to ultimately lead to enhanced mental health professional training and better clinical outcomes with military
personnel, whom we serve.
This project will enhance PERC by bringing national, and perhaps international, attention to WVU and the Center for Innovative Research that has practical applications for psychologists and counselors who work with active duty military personnel. Once relevant competency
domains have been identified in the present study, we plan to conduct future studies that build on this research. Findings from this study will be used to build empirically-sound self-assessment instruments that allow counselors and psychologists in training and practicing mental health professionals to assess their strengths and growth areas when working with active duty military personnel. In West Virginia University’s Counseling and Counseling Psychology programs, we are developing a training concentration in working with active duty military personnel. Thus, in support of PERC’s mission, results from this study will enhance training endeavors throughout West Virginia and the surrounding region. The competency domains outlined from this study will be used as a critical resource to guide and inform coursework in the WVU Ph.D. and M.A. programs beginning in Fall 2015. This project is also a collaboration between three programs within the College of Education: Counseling Psychology, Counseling, and Rehabilitation Counseling and will involve WVU students and faculty in all three interdisciplinary areas. Strategic Plan Goal 3: Foster diversity and an inclusive culture. This study is designed to enhance services to a specific subculture in America: active-duty personnel.
Strategic Plan Goal 4: Advance international activity and global engagement. Upon completion of these studies, we plan to present the findings at national conferences, including a symposium at the American Psychological Association’s 2015 conference in Toronto, Canada and future international conferences, including the International Counseling Psychology
future collaborations, and this research could inform competencies for professionals in other countries who work with military personnel, as well. We have been approached by the Defense Centers of Excellence in Psychological Health to give a talk to leaders at the Department of Defense on our findings, but the seed grant from PERC would help greatly in providing us the additional support that we need to collect data for the study.
