How PMHNP Program Directors Facilitate Psychotherapeutic Skill Acquisition.

BACKGROUND

The use of psychotherapy has a long history within psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) practice. Underutilization of psychotherapy in practice has potentially led to a reduced emphasis in the PMHNP curriculum. To date, no national survey has solely evaluated how PMHNP programs ensure psychotherapy skill acquisition.

AIMS

Survey the PMHNP programs within the United States on how psychotherapy skill acquisition is achieved, including (a) psychotherapeutic curricular content; (b) psychotherapy related clinical practicum hours, including simulation and preceptor-delivered hours; and (c) student interest in psychotherapy skills.

METHOD

Three rounds of e-mail invitations were sent to all PMHNP programs within the United States. Descriptive statistics and reflective thematic analysis were used to examine survey content.

RESULTS

There were 39 (27%) respondents, representing the U.S. regions equally. The most common forms of psychotherapy taught were cognitive-behavioral and motivational interviewing. The content was most often delivered through a hybrid program (65.8%). Psychotherapy clinical hours most often used in psychology and social work were varied (0-720,

CONCLUSION

This survey reported on both similarities and differences in how PMHNP programs ensure student competency in the skill acquisition of psychotherapy. While this article focuses on what skills are needed in psychotherapy education, direction on how programs deliver this content to their students to ensure this skill will be retained in practice is a critical next step.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.