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Personal and professional self-awareness is important to most counsellors and therapists and constitutes a keystone of reflective practice.

Competency frameworks seek to specify practitioners’ desirable assets while ethical codes and practice guidelines aim to guard against potential deficits in practice, but personal appraisals of plusses and minuses are rarely discussed.

Aim or objective 

This mixed-methods study aimed to give voice to practitioners’ self-evaluations of their professional strengths and limitations, while highlighting differences due to theoretical backgrounds and professional contexts.

Data

Qualitative data were provided by 337 UK respondents to the International Study of the Professional Development of Psychotherapists (ISPDP), conducted in collaboration with Íø±¬ÃÅ and BABCP, in response to the free-format questions: What do you feel is your greatest strength / most problematic limitation as a therapist?

Methods

Initial ‘Strengths’ and ‘Limitations’ coding frames were derived from previous studies with Indian and South Korean samples and iteratively refined. Working definitions of each category were collated in two coding manuals.

We transcribed responses and independently coded them in small batches.

We compared our codes, discussed any differences in understandings, refined the coding manuals and added verbatim examples to the category definitions.

If new concepts emerged, we developed new categories and re-coded all previous responses against these.

To estimate inter-rater reliability, we independently coded a final batch (n=60) using the re-worked coding manuals. We further calculated disagreement percentages, using these to make two further revisions to the coding manuals.

Results and findings

1. Coding frames for self-reported strengths and limitations (see Figures 1 and 2).
2. Two coding manuals containing definitions and examples (see illustrations below):

‘Strengths’ coding manual:

5.1: Empathy/understanding/engagement in therapy

The strength is due to the therapist’s abilities in  empathising, understanding, connecting or being present, either generally or in response to particular client or patient presentations.

Example: my ability to make a warm and trusting relationship with clients and be empathic.

‘Limitations’ coding manual:

2.2: Managing therapeutic relationship or boundaries

The limitation is due to the therapist’s relative inability to structure or focus sessions, or to manage the therapy process, or to establish or maintain appropriate boundaries. 

Example: possibly my reluctance to challenge clients.

Other results:

Estimated inter-rater reliability: unweighted kappa = .73, (‘substantial agreement’) demonstrating the utility of the coding manuals for future research. These are now being used in the SPR International Study of Therapists Training and Development.

Statistical analysis of responses, comparing and contrasting subgroups, is ongoing.

Conclusions and implications

We have analysed the self-acknowledged strengths and limitations of a large sample of counsellors and CBT therapists, resulting in detailed frames for understanding their perceptions.

For researchers, the outputs from this study provide tools for further research.

For practitioners, the coding manuals can serve as a point of personal reflection on potential strengths and limitations that may so far be outside their awareness.

For trainers, future results on limitations should provide pointers to profession- or theory-specific learning needs to be addressed.

Coding frame for strengths:

Personal

lntrinsic qualities

• personal attitudes, beliefs, values
• self-related attitudes/beliefs
• personal attributes

Acquired capabilities

• evolved capacities
• attained resilience

Past experiences

Technical resources

• knowledge base
• operational proficiencies

Therapeutic Relationship Abilities

• empathy/understanding/engagement in therapy
• manging therapeutic relationship or boundaries
• managing internal reactions arising from the therapeutic relationship

Experience

Training & Supervision

• past and current training/CPD/CE
• supervision

Professional Values

• professional attitudes and ethics
• professional loyalties

Professional context

• material working conditions
• collegiate and managerial support

Coding frame for limitations:

Internal

Personal factors

• general attitudes/ beliefs/values
• self-related attitudes/beliefs

Personal attributes

• past experiences
• lack of resilience, burnout

Relational obstacles

• lack of empathy/understanding/engagement in therapy
• managing therapeutic relationship or boundaries
• managing internal reactions arising from the therapeutic relationship

Gaps in competencies or experience

• gaps in skills, knowledge or capacities
• insufficient experience
• lack of meta-competencies

External

Cultural context

Working conditions

Stressors

• workload
• colleagues or managers

Lack of resources

• deficits in supervision/training/therapy
• material resources or time

Client/patient factors