Psychology Commons^™

Relationship Competency: An Exploration Of Training And Relationship Assessment In An Apa Doctoral Program, Jacquelyn M. Rodriguez

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Relational competency is regarded as foundational to doctoral psychology training (Mangione & Nadkarni, 2010), yet defining this competency has proven to be an arduous and nebulous task. The connection between relationship competency and strong therapeutic alliance, combined with the lack of knowledge and research around effective assessment and training of the nontangible relational attitudes, knowledge, and skills begs for more research on the implementation of this competency. The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between student therapists’ technique and relational characteristics and therapeutic alliance outcome during 10 therapy sessions. Participants were 24 first year doctoral students …