Exploring Therapeutic Alliance Training in Clinical and Counseling Psychology Graduate Programs

The therapeutic alliance is widely regarded as an empirically-based element of successful psychotherapy. However, the degree to which training programs incorporate alliance-centered components into their curricula and clinical practica remains unclear. The aims of this study were to explore (a) training programs' awareness of research that establishes the alliance as a component of evidence-based practice; (b) the extent to which programs incorporate formal, evidence-based alliance training into their pedagogy; (c) what training programs would consider ideal alliance-training practices; and (d) whether there are differences in evidence-based alliance-training practices or perspectives between programs with different terminal degrees. Data derived from a quantitative survey of directors (or their designates; N = 84) of American Psychological Association-accredited clinical (Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of Psychology) and counseling (Doctor of Philosophy) programs in the United States and Canada. Generally, respondents indicated that their programs were aware of alliance research trends. However, respondents also largely indicated that they do not incorporate systematic, evidence-based alliance training into their programs, despite believing that such systematic elements would contribute to ideal alliance-training practices. There were no statistically significant differences between program degree type in terms of awareness of alliance research, current alliance-training practices, or views on ideal alliance-training practices. We discuss the implications of the present results for training and future research directions.