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Views on psychotherapy research among members of the Medical Psychotherapy Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2021

Marcella Fok*
Affiliation:
Waterview Personality Disorder Service, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, UK
Tennyson Lee
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, UK Deancross Personality Disorder Service, East London NHS Foundation Trust, UK Centre for Understanding Personality Disorder, London, UK
Jessica Yakeley
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, UK Portman Clinic, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
*
Correspondence to Dr Marcella Fok (marcella.fok@nhs.net)
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Abstract

Aims and method

Research drives innovation and improved practice in psychotherapy. We describe views of members of the Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) regarding their knowledge, experience and perspectives on psychotherapy research. We sent questionnaires to the Faculty membership emailing list.

Results

In total, 172 psychiatrists from all levels of training returned fully complete responses. Respondents considered knowledge of psychotherapy research to be important to clinical work. Many have qualifications and experience in research but lack current opportunities for research involvement and would welcome the Faculty doing more to promote psychotherapy research. Perceived obstacles to research involvement included lack of competence, competing demands and wider organisational factors.

Clinical implications

The lack of research opportunities for medical psychotherapists may lead to their underrepresentation in psychotherapy research and a less medically informed research agenda. Providing support at academic, RCPsych and National Health Service organisational levels will allow more clinically relevant research not only in psychotherapy but in other psychiatric disciplines as well.

Information

Type
Education and Training
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Figure 0

Table 1 Characteristics and responses for the ‘completed’ respondents

Figure 1

Table 2 Perceived obstacles to getting more involved in psychotherapy research

Figure 2

Table 3 Interventions the Faculty should deliver to promote psychotherapy research (n = 172; multiple selections allowed)

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