What do therapists think about the integration of personal and professional aspects in their development? A mixed-method study.

Introduction: This presentation will outline the preliminary results of a study on personal and professional development. Its goal was to explore therapists' opinions on a self-integrated perspective of professional development. It postulates that the development of the person-of-the-therapist increases their congruence and their ability to be more responsive to clients, and thus their professional development. Method: 190 participants completed an online questionnaire assessing therapists' personal and professional characteristics, such as their age, gender, supervision, personal therapy, and level of training. Therapists were also asked to respond to the following question: “Some authors suggest that the position of the therapist integrates both personal aspects (way of being, qualities, sensitivity, personality, etc.) and professional aspects (training, approach, intervention, etc.).” They could reply using a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree,’ and were invited to add a comment on their response with the question, “What do you think about it, and what is your experience with it?” Results: Preliminary results will be presented. First, the results will indicate whether therapists tend to agree with a self-integrative perspective on professional development. Second, the results of a thematic analysis will be presented, outlining the different types of opinions and experiences about the self-integrated perspective. Third, predictive statistics will be presented to explore which therapist characteristics influence their opinion on the self-integrated perspective. Discussion: The results will help our understanding of professional development. This research contributes to ongoing debates about the personal and professional development of therapists, particularly in relation to training.