TITLE: Defining characteristic or unrealistic ideal:
Historical and contemporary perspectives on
scientist-
practitioner
training in counselling
psychology
The article briefly overviews the history of counseling psychology and the scientist-
practitioner model in its practice. Scientist-practitioner model emerged after WWII and was first acknowledged in Boulder Conference in 1949. The importance of integrating
scientific research and practices was recognized ever since and was discussed in every subsequent national counseling psychology meetings. The article also reviews strategies for integrating science and practices in graduate training however graduates may not apply their research skills in their professional work. Although the model is emphasized in the meetings, through out these 50 to 60 years, it seems that the goal has never been met because of a few reality reasons, such as schools being ranked according to the number of scientific journals published; and for students it seems to be too much of a load to include both scientific researches and practices, which many lead to shallow understanding of both. Two studies about S-P training graduate outcomes were reviewed and the authors suggested quantitative research is needed in assessing the influence of S-P training on its graduates at work.