Why do Italian psychology graduates dream of becoming psychotherapists?

Abstract

The role of potential motivations for psychotherapy training is receiving growing attention in the context of psychotherapy research. The present study examines the entire decision-making process for undertaking psychotherapy training in Italian psychology graduates. This is a quali-quantitative study using mixed methods and recruiting from a convenience sample. An on-line questionnaire - with open-ended questions about problem/need recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase, and post-purchase outcomes - was administered to psychology graduates interested in, undertaking or having already completed psychotherapy training (as types of respondents), overall including 549 participants (86 % females, Mage = 36.27 years). The strategy of analysis consisted of computer-aided text analysis (by using T-Lab software) and content analysis for examining responses and identifying the main themes for each open-ended question. Then, a cluster analysis was performed for grouping respondents from the previously detected themes. Three different clusters of participants were detected (respectively composed of 14.6 %, 51.2 % and 34.2 %) that were different by age, F (2, 455) = 11.878, p < .001, and type of respondents, χ² (4, N = 459) = 27.588, p < .001. Such clusters were mainly featured by different key factors for selecting a psychotherapy school, orientation preferences and motivations for psychotherapy training (p < .05, at 95 % confidence level). Overall, the results highlighted the perception of a gap in previous academic training, a reduced focus on professional development and the use of rigid strategies as critical issues related to the decision to undertake psychotherapy training.