“Is it really deliberate practice?” A new measure for assessing deliberate practice in psychotherapy

Abstract

This study aims to develop and validate a new measure for assessing deliberate practice in psychotherapy, addressing the ambiguous components currently identified in the literature. A total of 442 psychotherapists participated in an online survey, providing data on their engagement in activities related to deliberate practice. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the training sample to identify the underlying structure of the measure, followed by confirmatory factor analysis on a holdout sample to validate the instrument. The final model yielded four distinct factors: goals and training, recording, collaborative feedback, and monitoring, demonstrating high reliability (composite reliability > .70) and strong validity (average variance extracted > .50). Mean scores indicated a general tendency toward higher engagement in goals and training and collaborative feedback, whereas lower scores in recording suggest the underutilization of session reviews among therapists. The newly developed measure provides a comprehensive tool for assessing deliberate practice in psychotherapy, highlighting important areas for improvement in training programs. By incorporating direct observation and structured feedback mechanisms, this instrument may enhance therapist development, improve therapeutic practices, and ultimately benefit client outcomes.