Does the Model Matter? The Relationship Between Science-Practice Emphasis and Outcomes in Academic Training Programs in Counseling Psychology

Abstract

The emphasis on the commitment to science and practice varies among counseling psychology training programs, and this article reports two studies that examine whether these different emphases are linked to distinctive outcomes. Study 1 examined outcomes related to students and faculty within science-oriented, balanced science-practice, and practice-oriented counseling psychology programs. Study 2 examined the differential success and placement of doctoral students in matching to predoctoral internships. Against a backdrop of substantial similarity, differential commitments to science and practice within programs were related to selected differences in faculty and student outcomes in conceptually coherent ways. Scholarly productivity and internship placements, for example, varied according the science-practice emphasis of the training program, providing qualified support for future work that might further address the relationship between training models and outcomes in counseling psychology.

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