A formação inicial de terapeutas infantis: o caso do Serviço de Atendimento Clínico da Faculdade de Psicologia da Universidade de Lisboa

Abstract

The purposes of this paper are to: (a) describe the clinical service delivery by psychology post-graduate students (intervention modalities and clinical supervision); and (b) characterize children, adolescents, and parents that ask for help (according to gender, age group, educational level, presenting problems and referrals). We used a documented retrospective methodology through the analysis of clinical files. The data shows that in the last 8 years the clinic attended to 93 children and adolescents (61 boys and 32 girls), aging from 4 to 18 years old (M=11,3), presenting a wide range of behavioural and emotional problems, and the intervention processes are concluded between 1 and 29 sessions (M=12). We discuss how the analysis of this characterization has supported changes in the services and the advantages and limitations of this kind of clinic for the training of beginning therapist in a cognitive and behavioural modality.