PhD scholarship in Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen (UCPH)

CROP investigates the process and outcome of psychotherapy delivered by psychologists in the Danish practice sector or in private practice. The study focuses on two main questions. First, how are specific characteristics of clients and psychologists related to the outcome of therapy and do these characteristics moderate the outcome of different psychotherapeutic approaches? Second, to what extent do therapists adapt their approach to client characteristics and preferences and how does such responsiveness to clients impact the process and outcome of therapy? The study aims to collect data from 100 psychologists with, in total, 1,000 clients through an automated online platform. Data collection is ongoing and is expected to continue until August 2022.

Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen as part of the “Common Factors, Responsiveness and Outcome of Psychotherapy (CROP)” study. CROP is funded by the Tryg Foundation, the Health Foundation, the Research Council of the Danish Practice Sector, the Danish Psychological Association, and the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen.

Employment is scheduled to begin 1 September 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter

The PhD student will focus on the first research question and is expected to investigate specifically a) how client, psychologist and treatment characteristics are related to the clients’ outcome of psychotherapy and b) whether different outcome trajectories and predictors of these trajectories can be identified in the data collected for the study. Data will be analyzed through quantitative methods, including multilevel and growth mixture modeling. A full research protocol of the CROP study, including more elaborate descriptions of the sub-studies expected to be conducted by the PhD-student, is available upon request from Stig Poulsen, stig.poulsen@psy.ku.dk.

The principal investigator of the project and the PhD supervisor is Stig Poulsen, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Department of Psychology. Employment of the PhD student preferably starts in September 2021 or shortly thereafter.