Jennifer Callahan, PhD, ABPP, is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Texas, where she leads the Evidence-based Training and Competencies Research Lab.
Dr. Callahan received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and is board certified in Clinical Psychology.
Tell us a bit about your background. What is your area of research?
For me personally, Journal of Psychotherapy Integration (JPI) has consistently mirrored my professional identity and shaped its development.
In fact, my first publication in psychotherapy was an illustrative case study that highlighted key elements of psychotherapy integration. Since that time, I've had a longstanding and consistent dedication to advance beyond single-theory or single-school approaches to psychotherapy or behavior change.
My work includes several case studies, meta-analysis of existing literature, and new research (including both single clinic and multi-site investigations) into expectancies, preferences, transtheoretical processes and models, and training.
I have a successful grant record in psychotherapy research and my work has been repeatedly recognized via competitive awards at the national level.
What challenges, if any, lie ahead for the field?
At its heart, JPI remains the premiere outlet for advancing knowledge and application of psychotherapy integration. The new JPI editorial team seeks to honor that commitment while improving the quality of the journal and expanding its impact.
We envision a journal where the leading science in our area first appears and spirited debate is welcome. We will hold the field to the highest methodological standards, recognizing at the same time that no single method has exclusive claim to new knowledge. This means expanding the reach and influence of JPI both nationally and internationally, and making our work more accessible to a wide readership.
Extending JPI's international reach is vital to this aim and our team is taking steps to realize it. Our inaugural issue featured a special section entitled, "Psychotherapy Integration Around the World" and provided a wide sampling of extraordinary work being done globally.
With that same issue, we launched a new feature. The title, abstract, and keywords associated with each article were also provided in Chinese and Spanish. Our intention with this pilot program is threefold.
First, we are aiming to reach a wider international audience, including those who do not have full text access or strong written English skills, via the distilled information contained in the translated titles and abstracts. The publication of abstracts in additional languages may facilitate in promoting JPI and psychotherapy integration more broadly, particularly among international practitioners.
Second, JPI wants to nurture the student to early-career pipeline among linguistically diverse students with interests in psychotherapy. Teams of students are working together with the editorial office to provide translations and are serving as valuable contributors to the editorial team. As an added bonus, their work inherently provides them with opportunities of careful reflection regarding cutting edge scholarship in the area of psychotherapy integration.
Third, this pilot program addresses some of the needs identified by members of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) regarding students and early career individuals. As the official journal of SEPI, JPI is committed to connecting with the SEPI readership.
Do you have plans for a special issue or changes to the editorial process? Are you making any changes?
We currently have two open calls for papers. The first is an open call for the recurrent Practice-Oriented Evidence Review series, which is co-edited by Michael J. Constantino and Marvin R. Goldfriend. The second is a call for a forthcoming special issue on Integrative Psychotherapy of Sleep Disorders, being guest edited by Daniel Taylor (certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine and a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine).
The new JPI editorial team has been working together for more than a year to build upon JPI's past successes and move the journal forward.
Two former Associate Editors have remained with JPI and are now serving as Senior Associate Editors: Giancarlo Dimaggio and Ken Levy. Three new Associate Editors have joined the journal — Christoph Flückiger, Joshua Swift and Adam Gonzalez — and are bringing fresh new ideas and enthusiasm to the work.
Editor Spotlight features interviews with the newly-appointed editors of APA Journals.
APA Journals produces an array of scholarly journals that cover the spectrum of modern psychology and feature the latest research in the field.
Journal of Psychotherapy Integration publishes original peer-reviewed papers that move beyond the confines of single-school or single-theory approaches to psychotherapy and behavior change and that significantly advance the knowledge of psychotherapy integration.