Scaling up psychological treatments: A countrywide test of the online training of therapists.

Background A major barrier to the widespread dissemination of psychological treatments is the way that therapists are trained. The current method is not scalable. Objective To conduct a proof-of concept study of “web-centred training”, a scalable online method for training therapists. Methods The Irish Health Service Executive identified mental health professionals across the country whom they wanted to be trained in a specific psychological treatment for eating disorders. These therapists were given access to a “web-centred training” programme in transdiagnostic cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders. The training was accompanied by a scalable form of support consisting of brief encouraging telephone calls from a non-specialist. The trainee therapists completed a validated measure of therapist competence before and after the training. Results One hundred and two therapists embarked upon the training programme, 84.3% (86/102) of whom completed it. There was a substantial increase in their competence scores following the training (mean difference=5.84; 95% Cl -6.62 to -5.05; P Conclusions Web-centred training proved feasible and acceptable, and resulted in a marked increase in therapist competence scores. If these findings are replicated, web-centred training would provide a means of simultaneously training large numbers of geographically dispersed trainees at low cost, thereby overcoming a major obstacle to the widespread dissemination of psychological treatments.