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There is a growing emphasis to educate STEM students about accessibility, so that they can become accessibility advocates. We introduce a community-based accessibility training program that brings together graduate students in STEM and related fields, called the Research and Education in Accessibility, Design, and Innovation (READi). Going beyond academic degree training, this program includes five training components: (1) a graduate course on accessibility and inclusive design, (2) an Action Team Project (ATP), (3) a Retreat, (4) Workshops, and (5) a Symposium. As our initial program assessment, we analyzed 22 students’ written program reflection and found three themes that highlight what students learned about accessibility and professional skills (Theme 1: Learning Outcomes), what students planned on doing after the training (Theme 2: Future Endeavors), and how students want the program to improve (Theme 3: Program Improvement). We advance accessibility education by introducing an innovative training that embraces collaboration among local community, faculty, and multidisciplinary cohorts of graduate students.

This study presents a means to address therapist accuracy in CBT as it relates to discussion of cognitive errors and coping strategies. Therapist interventions from CBT therapy sessions of 43 patients with depression were identified using the Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Interventions Rating Scale, and focus of interventions on negative or positive cognitive errors, or affective, behavioural, or cognitive coping strategies was identified using the Cognitive Errors Rating Scale and Coping Patterns Rating Scale, respectively. Patients’ depression symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory. Prior to alpha adjustment, therapist accuracy of cognitive and behavioural coping strategies was found to significantly predict better coping. Tentative conclusions are provided on the value of attuning to patients’ coping strategies.

While innumerable studies have demonstrated the efficacy of CBT with patients with depression, the mechanisms responsible for depression reduction are not well understood. Aim. This study explored the relationship between therapists’ individual techniques and patients’ symptoms of depression, cognitive errors, and coping. Of particular interest was the relative importance of techniques specific to CBT and those common to all therapies. Method. CBT therapy sessions of 43 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) were analyzed using observer-rated measures: the Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Interventions Rating Scale (CPIRS; Trijsburg et al., 2002) for therapist interventions, and the Cognitive Errors Rating Scale (CERS; Drapeau, Perry, & Dunkley, 2008), and Coping Patterns Rating Scale (CPRS; Perry, Drapeau, & Dunkley, 2005) for patients’ cognitive errors and coping strategies. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979) was used to assess symptoms of depression. Results. Results of hierarchical multiple regressions, controlling for pre-treatment depression scores and early cognitive errors and coping scores, showed the common factor intervention ‘rapport’ as the only intervention that significantly predicted improvement. Among CBT interventions, only the structuring intervention ‘scheduling and structuring activities’ emerged as a positive predictor of symptoms of depression. Discussion. These results provide further support for the importance of the therapeutic alliance in predicting depression outcome. While the lack of positive results on therapist CBT technique seem to cast doubt on their relative importance, it may also highlight the importance of measuring technique more contextually.