W. Brad Johnson

The Intentional Mentor: Strategies and Guidelines for the Practice of Mentoring

How can faculty in professional psychology programs become more intentional and effective mentors? Many psychology graduate students are never mentored, and very few psychologists have ever received training in the practice of mentoring. This article briefly summarizes the nature of mentoring, the prevalence of mentoring in psychology, primary obstacles to mentoring, and some ethical concerns unique to mentoring. The article provides several strategies to enhance mentoring and guidelines for the profession, departments of psychology, and individual psychologists who serve as mentors. This article is designed to help readers take a more deliberate approach to the practice of mentoring. Our system of higher education, though officially committed to the fostering of intellectual and personal development of students, provides mentoring that is generally limited in quantity and poor in quality. (Levinson, Darrow, Klein, Levinson, & McKee, 1978, p. 334) Are psychologists equipped to mentor? Do most psychologists who develop long-term helping relationships with graduate students and junior colleagues consider mentoring a distinct area of professional practice? Although mentoring relationships clearly benefit those mentored, the mentors themselves, and the profession of psychology (Bogat & Redner, 1985; Clark, Harden, & Johnson, 2000), and although psychologists are increasingly called upon to mentor junior colleagues (H. C. Ellis, 1992; Hardy, 1994; Murray, 1997), relatively few psychologists ever receive training or supervision in the art and science of mentoring. Graduate school faculty, pressed with demands for research, teaching, and committee work, seldom initiate mentor relationships (mentorships; Clark et al., 2000; Cronan-Hillix, Davidson, Cronan-Hillix, & Gensheimer, 1986) and rarely consider methods of explicitly structuring and managing those that exist (Johnson & Nelson, 1999). Further, many psychologists may implicitly assume that mentoring “just happens,” whereas others hold widely divergent views about what mentoring actually means. In this article, I encourage a deliberate transition in our profession’s conceptualization of mentoring—from secondary or collateral duty to intentional, professional activity. This will require adoption of a framework that casts mentoring as a distinct area of professional practice requiring intentional preparation and careful application. I present a brief review of the literature on the nature of mentoring and the prevalence of mentoring in the field of psychology. Recent publications from psychology are emphasized, with secondary attention to key research from the fields of management and education. I highlight essential obstacles to mentoring and ethical concerns specific to mentorships, and I offer strategies for enhancing intentional mentoring at organizational, departmental, and individual levels. My primary purpose is to offer some preliminary practice guidelines for psychologists who mentor. I predict that as more psychologists become intentional mentors,

Mentor Relationships in Clinical Psychology Doctoral Training: Results of a National Survey

Mentor relationships play an important role in the development and promotion of professional identity among psychologists, yet empirical study of mentor-protégé relationships in psychology graduate education is nearly nonexistent. In this study, we provide a contemporary picture of mentor relationships in clinical psychology doctoral programs. We mailed a survey instrument regarding mentor relationships to 1,000 recent doctorates in clinical psychology; nearly 800 responded. Two thirds of respondents reported having a faculty mentor during graduate school. More PhDs reported having a mentor than PsyDs, as did graduates of university-based departments of psychology compared to graduates of schools of professional psychology. Men and women were equally likely to be mentored and to be satisfied with mentor relationships. Ninety-one percent of mentored graduates evaluated the mentor relationship positively, and mentored graduates were significantly more satisfied with their doctoral program. We discuss implications for graduate education.

A framework for conceptualizing competence to mentor.

Although advertisements for jobs in academe increasingly suggest that mentoring students is a job requirement, and although academic institutions are increasingly prone to consider a faculty members performance as a mentor at promotion and tenure junctures, there is currently no common approach to conceptualizing or evaluating mentor competence. This article proposes the triangular model of mentor competence as a preliminary framework for conceptualizing specific components of faculty competence in the mentor role. The triangular model includes mentor character virtues and intellectual/emotional abilities, as well as knowledge and skills (competencies) that are seen as expressions of training and experience. The article concludes with discussion of the implications of this model for faculty hiring, training, and evaluation.

The Comparative Efficacy of Christian and Secular Rational-Emotive Therapy with Christian Clients

The present study utilized a comparative psychotherapy outcome design to evaluate the relative therapeutic efficacy of Christian and secular RET with depressed Christian clients. Results showed both treatments significantly reduced depression, automatic negative thinking, irrational thinking, and general pathology. These gains were maintained after three months. There were no significant differential treatment effects. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for accommodation theory.

Core Virtues for the Practice of Mentoring

Mentoring relationships in psychology and other fields are often long-term, complex, and multifaceted. Although mentoring is associated with a host of benefits and positive outcomes for protégés, excellent mentoring requires careful attention to potential ethical concerns. In this article, we review mentoring literature from the education and management fields, as well as spiritual-direction literature, with attention to the traits and virtues of mentors. We argue for the relevance of mentor character virtues and propose that three central virtues (integrity, courage, and care) offer a solid starting point for theory and research relevant to the significance of mentor character. We conclude with a discussion of implications for training and research in psychology.

Perception of parental acceptance in women with binge eating disorder.

Abstract The authors contribute to the validating literature for binge eating disorder (BED) by examining perceptions of parents and satisfaction with life among obese women with and without BED. Participants were female patients, recruited through a private medical clinic, who were assigned to groups on the basis of body mass index (BMI) and scores on the Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns (QEWP; R. L. Spitzer et al., 1992). Groups consisted of (a) obese women with BED (n = 32), (b) obese women who had no eating disorders (n = 51), and (c) nonobese women with no eating disorders (n = 30). All participants completed the Parental Acceptance/Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ; R. P. Rohner, 1986), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; J. Fischer & K. Corcoran, 1994), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; A. T. Beck & R. A. Steer, 1987). Obese women with BED perceived their fathers as more rejecting than did women in the other groups. Moreover, obese women with BED perceived their fathers as significantly more rejecting than their mothers. The BED group indicated lower satisfaction with life and higher levels of depression than the groups without eating disorders. These findings further validate the diagnostic category of BED. Obese women with BED appear to be a distinct subgroup of the obese population. The results indicate a need for further assessment of the father–daughter relationship in connection to BED and other eating disorders.

Integrating Spirituality and Religion Into Psychotherapy: Persistent Dilemmas, Ethical Issues, and a Proposed Decision-Making Process

Religion and spirituality are important aspects of the lives of most psychotherapy clients. Unfortunately, many psychotherapists lack the training to effectively and ethically address these issues with their clients. At times, religious or spiritual concerns may be relevant to the reasons clients seek treatment, either as areas of conflict or distress for clients or as sources of strength and support that the psychotherapist may access to enhance the benefit of psychotherapy. This article reviews persistent ethical issues and dilemmas relevant to providing psychotherapy to clients for whom issues of religion and spirituality are clinically relevant. Ethical considerations include assessment, advertising and public statements, informed consent, competence, boundary issues and multiple relationships, cooperation with other professionals, and how to effectively integrate religious and spiritual interventions into ongoing psychotherapy. A decision-making process is presented to guide psychotherapists in their clinical work with clients for whom religious and spiritual issues are salient or clearly linked to their presenting problems.

Advisor-Advisee Relationships in Graduate Training Programs

Advisor—advisee relationships are an important aspect of the career development of professionals in many fields; however, limited scholarship has focused on these relationships. In the three articles of this special section, the authors attempt to help remedy this situation by articulating a culturally infused model of advising relationships in graduate training. This article lays the foundation for the authors’ model by reviewing the literature relevant to advising and mentoring. In the subsequent articles, the authors propose that it is critical to understand how within-group cultural variables affect the advising relationship. Articulating a framework for understanding the advising relationship as a multicultural endeavor may help educators prepare the next generations of professionals and facilitate increased empirical attention to this important, yet underexamined construct.

Character and fitness requirements for professional psychologists: Are there any?

Should the profession of psychology more carefully and intentionally evaluate the moral character and personal fitness of applicants for graduate school admission and state licensure? Although lawyer applicants for bar admission have been screened on the basis of character and fitness for nearly 50 years, professional psychology devotes only cursory attention to such standards. The purpose of this article is to use the legal professions approach to character and fitness screening as an exemplar for professional psychology. The authors recommend development of national standards that are based on the essential characteristics of practicing psychologists and offer a preliminary list of minimal character and fitness requirements. By collaboratively and proactively working to ensure high character and fitness standards, graduate programs and licensing boards will simultaneously protect consumers and the public image of psychology.

Character and fitness requirements for professional psychologists: Training directors' perspectives

Do directors of psychology training programs consider whether program applicants and students possess essential moral character and psychological fitness characteristics? A survey revealed that directors of clinical training (DCTs) in clinical and counseling psychology training programs are very concerned about both character and fitness. DCTs reported that evidence accrued during interviews and from undergraduate references is most salient preadmission and that behavior in the program and in clinical situations is most meaningful postadmission. The authors highlight the practices and perspectives of DCTs when it comes to evaluating character and fitness and conclude with several recommendations for training programs, licensing boards, and psychology training organizations.