Two professional issues in clinical psychology : reflective practice and clinical effectiveness

This thesis contributes knowledge to the areas of Reflective Practice and Clinical Effectiveness, both professional issues in clinical psychology, which have a direct link to patient care in the National Health Service (NHS). The literature review presented in Chapter 1 focuses on reflective practice. The review aimed to identify all published empirical research, which investigated the application and usefulness of reflective practice for staff qualified in healthcare professions, and working in health services specifically, including the NHS. The findings have clinical and professional implications for health care staff, their managers, and the broader organisations in which they work. The use of reflective practice has been linked in the literature to increased clinical effectiveness, which is the second professional issue. The empirical paper presented in Chapter 2 explored the measurement and demonstration of clinical effectiveness as experienced by clinical psychologists working within NHS using a qualitative methodology. Demonstrating clinical effectiveness was found to be particularly relevant given the current, changing financial climate of the NHS and a context in which clinical psychologists are expected to prove their professional worth. The review and empirical paper highlight the importance of practice-based evidence. Chapter 3 presents a reflective paper, which explores the impact of the review and research findings on the author who is approaching the end of her clinical psychology training. This paper may be of interest to more experienced clinicians who wish to understand the issues from a newly qualified perspective, or to readers interested in the transition from training to professional practice.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo