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Dr Gina Di Malta

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Senior Lecturer in Psychotherapy and Counselling
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Psychology & Counselling
  • Psychology
  • gina.dimalta

Web links

Professional biography

I am a Chartered Counselling Psychologist accredited with the British Psychological Society, Senior Lecturer in psychotherapy and counselling, Editor-in-Chief of the international peer-reviewed journal Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, and past Editor of the BPS Division of Counselling Psychology's peer-reviewed publication Counselling Psychology Review. My research is aimed at the developments of psychotherapy and counselling.

Prior to joining the OU, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Associate Lecturer at the University of Roehampton and the Existential Academy. I conducted psychotherapy research with the Centre for Research in Social and Psychological Transformation (CREST), and taught and supervised students on Counselling Psychology doctorate programmes. 

I have practiced as a Counselling Psychologist in a range of clinical settings including NHS Increasing Access for Psychological Therapies (IAPT), NHS primary and secondary care, University counselling services, and charity sectors.

Qualifications

2016. Doctor of Counselling Psychology (PsychD, awarded May 2017), Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, UK

2013. MA in Clinical/Counselling Psychology (Valedictorian), Department of Psychology, La Salle University, USA

2010. MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK

2009. BA in Psychology (Distinction), Department of Psychology, Empire State College, USA

Professional Memberships

Health Care Profession Council - HCPC registred (since July 2017, PYL34509)

British Psychological Society - Chartered Psychologist (248376)

Higher Education Academy - Associate Fellow (since Oct 2017, PR135330)

BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Steering Committee - Member (2021-present)

Research interests

My research interest sits in the study of psychotherapy processes and how these can be enhanced to facilitate impact on client outcomes. Research topics I work on include patient choice, goal-oriented practices, preferences in psychotherapy, relational depth, and pluralism in research and practice. More recently, I have expanded my interest to explore the impact of connectedness on wellbeing in communities. 

Selected articles

Di Malta, G., Cooper, M., Bond, J., Raymond-Barker, B., Oza, M., & Pauli, R. (2023). The Patient-Perceived Helpfulness of Measures Scale: Development and Validation of a Scale to Assess the Helpfulness of Using Measures in Psychological Treatment. Assessment, https://doi.org/10.1177/10731911231195837 Impact Factor: 3.8

Di Malta, G., Bond, Smith, K., J. Conroy, D., Moller, N. (2022). Distance education students’ mental health, connectedness and academic performance during COVID-19: A mixed-methods study. Distance Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2022.202935 Impact Factor: 3.1

Di Malta, G., Evans, C., Cooper, M. (2020). Development and validation of the relational depth frequency scale. Psychotherapy Research.  https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2019.1585590 Impact Factor: 2.984

 

Teaching interests

  • Person-centred theory and practice
  • Pluralistic theory and practice
  • Quantitative and qualitative research methods
  • Psychological assessment and formulation
  • Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy and third wave approaches

Open University Teaching

2023/24. D230 Module Production Block Lead 'Assessment in Counselling and Psychotherapy'

2022/23. DD310 Module Chair; Short course production co-lead 'Advanced Therapeutic Relationship'

2021/22. DD310 Module Chair; D241 team member

2020/21. DD310 Module Chair; D241 team member

2020/21. D241 Module team member

2019/20. D241 Module production

2019/20. DD310 Module team member

Invited Talks and Lectures

2022.    SPR series Workshop: Working with client preferences

2019.    Pluralistic therapy in context. DPsych, City University, UK.

2019.    Qualitative Research methods. Whole module (online), DPsych, New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (NSPC), Middlesex University, UK

2019.    Clinical supervision. Whole module (online), DPsych, NSPC, UK

2019.    Focussing/ Emotion Focussed Therapy. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018/19. Person-centred skills practice. Whole module, PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018/19. Professional Practice Group. Whole module, PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018.    Quantitative research methods (online). Whole module, DPsych, NSPC, UK

2018.    Person-centred theory: The necessary and sufficient conditions. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018.    Psychological contact and relational depth. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018.    Person-centred theory: Active client-active therapist. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2017/18. Collaborative Assessment. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2017.    The Identity of a Counselling Psychologist. DPsych, NSPC, UK

2017.    Counselling in a Higher Education Setting. DPsych, NSPC, UK

Publications

Risk factors associated with postpartum anxiety in Australia, Europe, and North America: A systematic review and narrative synthesis (2025)
Jones, Katie; Folliard, Kelda; Di Malta, Gina; Oates, John; Gilbert, Leah and Harrison, Virginia
Journal of Affective Disorders ((In press))

The Patient-Perceived Helpfulness of Measures Scale: Development and Validation of a Scale to Assess the Helpfulness of Using Measures in Psychological Treatment (2024-07)
Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Bond, Julian; Raymond-Barker, Brett; Oza, Marsha and Pauli, Regina
Assessment, 31(5) (pp. 994-1010)

The Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences: Measurement Invariance across International Datasets and Languages (2024)
Řiháček, Tomáš; Cooper, Mick; Cígler, Hynek; She, Zhuang; Di Malta, Gina and Norcross, John
Psychotherapy Research, 34(6) (pp. 804-816)

The Impact of Relational Depth on Subjective Well-being in Close Relationships in the Community (2024)
Di Malta, Gina; Bond, Julian; Raymond-Barker, Brett; Moller, Naomi and Cooper, Mick
Journal of Humanistic Psychology ((Early Access))

Validation of the Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP) in Chinese lay clients and mental health professionals: Factor structure, measurement invariance, and scale differences (2023-07)
She, Zhuang; Xi, Juzhe; Cooper, Mick; Norcross, John C. and Di Malta, Gina
Journal of Counseling Psychology, 70(4) (pp. 436-447)

Patient Perspectives on Working with Preferences in Psychotherapy: A Consensual Qualitative Research Study (2023-01-20)
Cooper, Mick; Di Malta, Gina; Knox, Sarah; Oddli, Hanne and Swift, Joshua
Psychotherapy Research, 33(8) (pp. 1117-1131)

Is designing therapeutic? A case study exploring the experience of co-design and psychosis (2023)
Renedo Illarregi, Erika; Alexiou, Katerina; Di Malta, Gina and Zamenopoulos, Theodore
Psychosis, 15(3) (pp. 277-291)

Extended validation of the Relational Depth Frequency Scale: Retest reliability, divergent and criterion validity, and measurement invariance in UK‐ and US‐stratified samples (2023)
Di Malta, Gina; She, Zhuang; Raymond-Barker, Brett and Cooper, Mick
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 79(9) (pp. 2040-2052)

Distance education students’ mental health, connectedness and academic performance during COVID-19: A mixed-methods study (2022)
Di Malta, Gina; Bond, Julian; Conroy, Dominic; Smith, Katy and Moller, Naomi
Distance Education, 43(1) (pp. 97-118)

Relational depth from the perspective of the psychotherapy dyad: Psychometric properties of the Relational Depth Frequency Scale (2022)
Zarzycka, Beata; Jankowski, Tomasz; Szostek, Dorota; Di Malta, Gina and Cooper, Mick
Psychotherapy Research, 32(7) (pp. 910-921)

Pilot Randomised controlled trial of counselling in a community mental health setting: Pitfalls and learnings (2020-03)
Farr, Joanna; Di Malta, Gina and Cooper, Mick
Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 20(1) (pp. 3-8)

An Application of the Three-Step Test-Interview (TSTI) in the Validation of the Relational Depth Frequency Scale (2020)
Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Vos, Joel and Van Der Veer, Kees
Journal of Humanistic Psychology

From intention to action: A mixed methods study of clients' experiences of goal-oriented practices (2019-10)
Di Malta, Gina; Oddli, Hanne W. and Cooper, Mick
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 75(10) (pp. 1770-1789)

Development and validation of the relational depth frequency scale (2019)
Di Malta, Gina; Evans, Chris and Cooper, Mick
Psychotherapy Research, 30(2) (pp. 213-227)

Testosterone disrupts human collaboration by increasing egocentric choices (2012-06-30)
Wright, Nicholas D.; Bahrami, Bahador; Johnson, Emily; Di Malta, Gina; Rees, Geraint; Frith, Christopher D. and Dolan, Raymond J.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1736) (pp. 2275-2280)

The relational approach to person-centred therapy (2024-05-16)
Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Knox, Rosanne and Cox, Steve
In: Cooper, Mick ed. The Tribes of the Person-Centred Nation (3rd Edition): An introduction to the world of person-centred therapies
ISBN : 9781915220479 | Publisher : PCCS books | Published : Monmouth

The person-centred approach today and tomorrow: Seeds of a peaceful revolution (2024)
Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Gololob, Yana; O'Hara, Maureen and Stephen, Susan
In: Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Gololob, Yana; O'Hara, Maureen and Stephen, Susan eds. The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling (3rd ed.) (pp. 1-16)
Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic (In Press) | Published : London, UK

Empathy (2024)
Freire, Elizabeth and Di Malta, Gina
In: Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Gololob, Yana; O'Hara, Maureen and Stephen, Susan eds. The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling (3rd ed.)
Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic | Published : London, UK

Relational Depth (2024)
Di Malta, Gina; Anderson, Ruth and Cooper, Mick
In: Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Gololob, Yana; O'Hara, Maureen and Stephen, Susan eds. The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling (3rd ed.) (pp. 239-251)
ISBN : 978-1-3504-3985-6 | Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic (In Press) | Published : London, UK

Person-Centered Theory in Psychotherapy (2023)
Cooper, Mick and Di Malta, Gina
In: Callahan, Jennifer ed. APA Handbook of Psychotherapy (pp. 71-90)
Publisher : American Psychological Association (In Press)

Understanding Sadness and Worry (2021-01)
Moller, Naomi and Di Malta, Gina
In: Moller, Naomi; Vossler, Andreas; Jones, David and Kaposi, David eds. Understanding Mental Health and Counselling (pp. 129-158)
ISBN : 9781529712285 | Publisher : Sage Publishing | Published : London

The Humanistic Approach (2021)
Sims, Michael and Di Malta, Gina
In: Moller, Naomi; Vossler, Andreas; Jones, David and Kaposi, David eds. Understanding Mental Health and Counselling
Publisher : SAGE

The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling (3rd ed.) (2024-10)
Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Gololob, Yana; O'Hara, Maureen and Stephen, Susan eds.
ISBN : 9781350439870 | Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic | Published : London, UK

Risk factors associated with Postpartum Anxiety in Australia, Europe, and North America: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis [Conference Poster] (2024)
Jones, Katie; Folliard, Kelda; Di Malta, Gina; Oates, John; Gilbert, Leah and Harrison, Virginia
In : ESRC Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership Annual Conference 2024 (4-5 Jun 2024, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK)

Implementation of home practice support strategies for older adults attending an online mindfulness based cognitive therapy course: An adaptive intervention protocol (2023)
Pacini, Adele; Stickland, Annabel; Iniguez, Krystal and Di Malta, Gina
In : Proceedings of the 5th UK Implementation Science Research Conference (2023)

The Development and Validation of the Relational Depth Frequency Scale (2017)
Di Malta, Gina
PhD thesis University of Roehampton