research conference 2006
12th Annual Counselling and Psychotherapy Research Conference

index of presentations | abstracts part 1 2 3 4 | programme | evaluation

Evaluation report

It was another bumper conference this year with a record number of delegates who met in Glasgow in May to debate research issues and to be challenged and stimulated by the speakers, presenters, exhibitors and publishers. The conference attracted 187 delegates, including people from Ireland, Germany, New Zealand and the USA, together with our local hosts from Scotland, Mick Cooper and Lorna Carrick on behalf of the University of Strathclyde.

The two days saw a total of 63 presentations, made up of 47 papers, 5 workshops, 9 posters and two keynotes. The first keynote 'Giving people what they want; empirically grounded psychological therapy' was presented by Professor Paul Salkovskis, Professor of Clinical and Applied Science at the Institute of Psychiatry and Clinical Director at the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma at the Maudsley Hospital, who challenged, irritated and stimulated in equal measure, according to delegate feedback. The second keynote 'Filling gaps for feeling gaps? Dilemmas for counselling researchers in an age of consumption' was given by Professor Liz Bondi, Professor of Geography and Co-director of Counselling Studies, University of Edinburgh, who received a warm response. At a drinks reception hosted by Taylor and Francis, publishers of CPR, Professor Julia Buckroyd updated the audience on progress in the production of CPR and announced the good news that it is now indexed and abstracted on PsycINFO.

In particular, it was great to welcome so many students to the conference this year: the profession needs to develop a cadre of researchers, and we hope the research conference will help encourage many such careers. Another aspect of particular interest was the poster sessions – it is always very interesting and stimulating to witness the versatility of presenters who find original and sometimes amusing ways of informing the entire conference audience of their work, in the space of just two minutes. Again, this is an aspect of the conference that we wish to develop.

The conference had a great atmosphere thanks to the warm welcome from our co-hosts and the friendliness of the delegates. A congenial social evening on Friday ensured old friends met up whilst new friendships were formed over dinner and dancing, and Laurie Clarke, CEO, presented Andrew Reeves from the University of Liverpool Counselling Service with the SAGE prize for the highest scoring presentation at the 2005 annual conference. Congratulations again to Andrew. As in previous years post conference evaluation emphasized that networking with colleagues and other researchers is an important part of the conference, along with appreciation of the friendliness of the event, an element we are keen to maintain.

Administration, structure, quality and overall satisfaction

An evaluation form was completed by 64 delegates (just a third of all delegates), using scores of 1 = Poor and 5 = Excellent. Scores continued to display good levels of satisfaction, with administration of the event scoring a notable 4.8; conference structure scored 4.4; programme content scored 4.2, with accommodation and venue/facilities scoring 4.4 and 4.2 respectively. An overall high satisfaction rate of 4.6 was given with 96% of respondents reporting the conference fulfilled their reason for attending. The delegate pack was found to be useful by 90% of respondents. The conference was rated good value for money by 84% of respondents.

Presentations

Friday's papers gained an average score of 3.9 (from a range of 2 to 5) with the average for Saturday's being 4.1 (from a range of 3 to 4.8). Workshop presentations registered an average of 4.5 (from a range of 4.3 to 5), and posters scored an average of 4.1 (from a range of 3 to 5).

All conference abstracts will appear in CPR. The Research team and BACP wish to thank everybody concerned for making the conference a great success. We appreciate your continued support, and a special thank you to those of you who travelled so far.

We look forward to next year's research conference, which will be held in York on 11 and 12 May (tbc), with York St John University College as our academic co-host (who will be known as 'York St John University' after October 06).

The title for our conference in 2007 is 'Research Matters', and you can visit www.bacp.co.uk/research/conference2007 for details or contact Angela Couchman, Research Office Manager by phoning 0870 443 5237 or by emailing angela.couchman@bacp.co.uk Please note that the deadline for abstracts is 17 November 2006.

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