Optimism, hope, and coping during practicum: predicting changes in perceived clinical competence.

We examined the degree that optimism and hope predicted coping and perceived competence in counselling psychology practicum students. Masters students from a Northern California university (N = 74) completed surveys at four points during practicum year: (T1) baseline, (T2) one month, (T3) mid-year, and (T4) final month. Measures assessed dispositional optimism and hope, adaptive and maladaptive coping, and perceived clinical competence. Over time, self-reported competence increased. There was a T1 optimism X time Interaction predicting perceived competence, but no T1 hope X time interaction. This interaction continued to be significant when covarying adaptive and maladaptive coping and appeared driven by the fact that low-optimism trainees initially had worse perceived competence than high-optimism trainees. In the absence of previous counselling experience, there was a relationship between trainees' levels of optimism and their perceived clinical competence. Specifically, low-optimism students saw themselves as less competent at baseline than high-optimism students, but this perceived competence subsequently increased over time, with both groups seeing themselves as similarly competent by end of year. Past authors theorized that individuals with high levels of positive expectancies initially overestimate their abilities in novel situations. This may explain why high-optimism students rated their competence as relatively great at baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]