Retraction of Hill et al. (2015)

Reports the retraction of "Is training effective? A study of counseling psychology doctoral trainees in a psychodynamic/interpersonal training clinic" by Clara E. Hill, Ellen Baumann, Naama Shafran, Shudarshana Gupta, Ashley Morrison, Andrés E. Pérez Rojas, Patricia T. Spangler, Shauna Griffin, Laura Pappa and Charles J. Gelso (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2015[Apr], Vol 62[2], 184-201). The following article is being retracted (https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000053). This retraction is at the request of coauthors Hill and Gelso after the results of an investigation by the University of Maryland Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB found that the study included data from between one and four therapy clients of the Maryland Psychotherapy Clinic and Research Laboratory (MPCRL) who either had not been asked to provide consent or had withdrawn consent for their data to be included in the research. Baumann, Shafran, Gupta, Morrison, Rojas, Spangler, Griffin and Pappa were not responsible for obtaining and verifying participant consent but agreed to the retraction of this article (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2015-02322-001.) We investigated changes over 12 to 42 months in 23 predoctoral trainees during their externship training in a psychodynamic/interpersonal psychotherapy clinic. Over time, trainees increased in client-rated working alliance and real relationship, therapist-rated working alliance, client-rated interpersonal functioning, ability to use helping skills (e.g., challenges, immediacy), higher-order functioning (e.g., conceptualization ability, countertransference management), feelings about themselves as therapists (e.g., more authentic, more self-aware), and understanding about being a therapist (e.g., theoretical orientation, curiosity about client dynamics). In contrast, trainees did not change in engaging clients (return after intake or for at least 8 sessions), judge-rated psychodynamic techniques in third and ninth sessions across clients (although trainees used more cognitive-behavioral techniques over time in third but not ninth sessions), or changes in client-rated symptomatology. Trainees primarily attributed changes to graduate training, individual and group supervision, research participation, and working with clients. Implications for training and research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).