4 - (OP11) Training Therapists in CBT for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: What Makes Training Stick?

Dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychotherapies requires training clinicians in new skills. One common way for clinicians to be exposed to new skills and to fulfill their annual continuing education requirements is to take a workshop taught by an expert. However, simply attending a workshop may not lead to much change in actual clinical practice. Based on the work of Bennett-Levy and Padesky (2014) This study compared three different approaches to training therapists in using a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) protocol to treat patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Licensed therapists were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. All participants had the opportunity to participate in a synchronous 2-hour workshop taught by the first author. One third of participants also completed a series of 4 guided reflection questions over the following 8 weeks. The final third completed the reflection questions and were also offered the opportunity to take part in a clinical consultation with the first author at the 4 week mark. The workshop alone did little to change clinicians’ self-reported behavior but completing at least 3 out of 4 reflection questions led to significantly greater uptake and implementation of core suggestions from the training. Consultation added relatively little, but very few clinicians availed themselves of the opportunity. Attending workshops alone, although a common way to try to learn new skills, is probably insufficient to promote behavior change. Incorporating structured reflection questions is an efficient and relatively inexpensive way to consolidate learning and improve skills acquisition.