Emotional Intelligence and Psychotherapy Outcomes in the Training Clinic

Narrative descriptions of incompetent trainee clinicians suggest that such trainees may have unacceptably low emotional intelligence (EI), which is consistent with a lack of the requisite baseline competencies necessary for more advanced practicum competency development. There further remains a need to identify standardized instruments that could facilitate gate-keeping decisions and support trainee development. The purpose of this study, which included 32 trainee clinicians and their respective 133 clients, was to characterize trainee EI while taking into account the potential effect(s) of personality factors. Results revealed that neuroticism, as measured by Costa and McCrae's five-factor inventory (P. T. Costa, Jr. and R. R. McCrae, 1992, NEO PI-R professional manual: Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), Odessa, FL, Psychological Assessment Resources), significantly predicted client change (as measured by the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2; M. J. Lambert et al., 1996, Administration and Scoring Manual for the OQ-45.2, Stevenson, MD, American Professional Credentialing Services), with EI, as measured by the MSCEIT (J. D. Mayer, P. Salovey, & D. Caruso, 2002, Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) user's manual. Toronto, ON, Canada: Multi-Health Systems), moderating this relationship. The model accounted for 46% of the variance in client outcomes. Drawing on the private self-consciousness literature, an explanation for the valuable interaction between EI and neuroticism in producing client change is discussed and implications for training, practice, and future research are identified.