Practice and Research
One of the most concerning issues in psychotherapy is the lack of connection between research and practice. Most clinicians are not substantially influenced by empirical findings in their practice, in part because many studies fail to address questions that are at the core of the clinical routine of full-time practitioners.
One way to integrate knowledge and expertise of researchers and clinicians is practice-oriented research (POR). In POR, practitioners, faculty members, and graduate students are fully collaborating in selecting topics to investigate, designing and implementing studies, as well as disseminating scientific results.
You will find here links to publications about different types of POR, as well as other initiatives and strategies to better the integration of practice and science: Castonguay & Muran, 2015; Castonguay et al., 2015; Goldfried et al., 2014; McAleavey, Castonguay, & Goldfried, 2014; Castonguay et al., 2013; Parry et al., 2010; Lampropoulos et al., 2002; Borkovec & Castonguay, 1998.
The Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH)
CCMH is a practice-network infrastructure that includes more than 500 university counseling centers using the same standardized assessment procedures. This allows us to conduct studies with several hundreds of thousands of clients, and many thousands of therapists.
You will find here links to publications describing the CCMH infrastructure: McAleavey et al., 2015; Youn et al., 2015; Castonguay, Locke, & Hayes, 2011.
You will find here links to publications related to research that our lab has been involved with, within the CCMH infrastructure: Youn et al., 2019; Xiao et al., 2017a; Xiao et al., 2017b; Hayes et al., 2016; Nordberg et al., 2016; Nordberg et al., 2013; Boswell et al., 2012; Hayes et al., 2011; McAleavey, Castonguay, & Locke, 2011; Nelson, Castonguay, & Locke, 2011.
Psychology Clinic Practice Research Network (Psychology Clinic PRN)
Our lab has played a central role in creating an infrastructure within the Department of Psychology clinic that allows for a simultaneous integration of the clinical and research needs of graduate students.
You will find here a link to a publication describing the Psychology Clinic PRN: Castonguay, Pincus, & McAleavey, 2015.
These publications relate to research that our lab has been conducting within the Clinic PRN infrastructure: McAleavy & Castonguay, 2014; McAleavy, Castonguay, & Xiao, 2014; Nordberg et al., 2014; Boswell, Castonguay, & Wasserman, 2010; Boswell, Castonguay, & Pincus, 2009.
Pennsylvania Psychological Practice Research Network (PPA PRN)
This PRN infrastructure involves practitioners in private practice with whom the lab has collaborated in conducting clinically relevant and scientifically rigorous studies in day-to-day clinical practice.
You will find here a link to a publication describing the PPA PRN infrastructure: Koerner & Castonguay, 2015.
You will find here links to publications related to research that our lab has been conducting within the PPA PRN infrastructure: Castonguay et al., 2017; Castonguay et al., 2010a; Castonguay et al., 2010b; Ruiz et al., 2004.
Another way of fostering the integration of science and practice is to rely on the complementary expertise of researchers and clinicians to better understand how psychotherapy works.
You will find here a link to chapters from a book resulting from such a collaboration. The book presents a list of 38 empirically based principles of change and illustrates how expert clinicians apply these principles in their day-to-day practice. The book also engages researchers and clinicians in exchanges about several issues, including principles of change that are common to different orientations, those that are most helpful clinically, as well as those that clinicians believe should be the focus of future research. Castonguay, Constantino, & Beutler, 2019a; Castonguay, Constantino, & Beutler, 2019b.
Full references are available from Dr. Castonguay’s CV.