Date of Award
Summer 2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology
First Advisor
Sarah Knox
Second Advisor
Alan Burkard
Third Advisor
Lisa Edwards
Abstract
Competence in case conceptualization (CC) is a core skill in clinical training. However, many graduate programs lack a structured process for teaching this complex and dynamic clinical skill. While most research focuses on students’ perspectives on learning CC, there is a distinct gap in research on faculty experiences, successful teaching methods, and the assessment of teaching practices. Therefore, this study addressed the gap in extant literature by exploring how doctoral programs’ faculty taught transtheoretical CC and how they evaluated the effectiveness of their instruction. A Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) design was employed to deeply examine the experiences of 13 faculty members from doctoral-level clinical and counseling psychology programs. Major findings offer specific classroom activities that faculty deemed most successful in developing students’ CC abilities. Additionally, student-specific factors that enabled or impeded learning outcomes were identified, including, but not limited to, cognitive rigidity, openness to feedback, creativity, cultural humility, and critical thinking. Finally, participants provided feedback that they received about their teaching and how it subsequently shaped their pedagogical adjustments.