A COMPETENCE FRAMEWORK FOR TRAINING COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY WITH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: INTEGRATION OF EXISTING MODELS AND COMPARISON WITH NATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMMES IN FINLAND

Mental disorders are common in childhood and adolescence, but access to psychological interventions remains limited. Expanding this access requires training a workforce competent in methods aligned with the needs of service users and the possibilities of service providers. Competence-based education can improve the transparency, consistency and effectiveness of psychotherapy training programmes. Competence frameworks are used to systematically articulate the goals of training and the expected knowledge and skills of the trainee. Cognitive behavioural therapies (CBTs) are the most widely recommended treatments for common internalizing and externalizing disorders. The study develops a competence framework for CBT with children and adolescents by integrating established frameworks, to provide a more comprehensive presentation of expected competence. The presented framework covers 91 competences across six domains: core competences for work with children and adolescents, generic therapeutic competences, assessment and planning, CBT competences/techniques, metacompetences and problem-specific competences. To test the practical applicability of the developed framework, its alignment with the contents of nationwide CBT training programmes for children and adolescents was evaluated. Results showed that 88% (CBT for children) and 81% (CBT for adolescents) of competences were fully covered, with smaller proportions partially addressed or omitted. The competence framework provides a novel tool for presenting, comparing, and evaluating CBT training programme contents internationally. This can be used to support both workforce competence building and scientific research on CBT methods.