Clinical psychologists work closely with people who are struggling in order to prevent, assess and treat their mental health disorders. To this end, they need to be skilled at interacting with other people.
A new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) research group 'RISKIT' (Research on Interpersonal Skills in Therapists) suggests that observing experienced therapists at work can help psychology students improve their ability to talk with patients.
"We have investigated whether this type of 'master–apprentice' training can enhance psychology students' relational skills," said PhD research fellow Steffen André Fagerbakk at NTNU's Department of Psychology.
The results of the study have now been published in the journal Psychotherapy Research .
Job shadowing
It takes at least six years of study to qualify as a clinical psychologist. Already in their first academic year of study, psychology students get to practise interacting with patients.
The research team studied 108 first-year students and randomly divided them into two groups. One group followed the regular curriculum, which in the first year mostly consists of theoretical, foundational courses. In addition to the regular curriculum, the other group got to sit in on weekly therapy sessions with various therapists over a period of 10 weeks.
"We found that the students who had the opportunity to shadow therapists at work become significantly better at interacting with people afterwards," said Fagerbakk.
Minor, but significant, differences
The researchers observed particular improvement in the ability to form bonds with patients and to repair bonds that were at risk of breaking.
The other group also improved over time, but not significantly. Overall, there were not very large differences in the improvement in skills between the two groups, but enough for the research group to consider conducting further studies.
"This kind of apprenticeship learning from an experienced therapist appears to be a valuable addition to the training methods we usually use in the first academic year of study," concluded Fagerbakk.
Reference:
Fagerbakk, S. A., Brattland, H., Laugen, N. J., Holgersen, K. H., Vogel, P. A., & Ryum, T. (2026). Developing facilitative interpersonal skills: A randomized controlled study of apprenticeship training for first-year clinical psychology students . Psychotherapy Research, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2026.2615393
