Developing basic training programmes: a case study illustration using the Delphi method in clinical psychology

The effectiveness of interventions in mental health depends on the competence of the therapists who deliver them and in turn on the training that they receive. For this training to be successful it is necessary for programmes to periodically review and develop their objectives, content and methods. In the present article we summarize the main pressures on training programmes to undertake such review and development cycles, detail one review method (the Delphi Technique), and present the results of a Delphi survey of the stakeholders ( N = 43) associated with a clinical psychology training programme in the UK. The results indicated that the Delphi was conducted satisfactorily and that it can play a valuable role in defining how a training programme can be improved, based on reaching consensus about developments amongst the programme's stakeholders. Implications are drawn regarding the need for multiple measures, to complement the Delphi Technique as a way of developing training.