This study followed the TRIPOD Checklist for Prediction Model Development (Collins et al., 2015) in organizing and reporting procedures.

Ukrainian psychologists who hold a university diploma in psychology and conduct psychological practice in its broad meaning (e.g., all types of professional activities of a psychologist allowed in Ukraine, such as clinical assessment, research, counseling, low-intensive and crisis interventions, psychoeducation, and, with appropriate additional education, psychotherapy) were invited to participate voluntarily in this study. We aimed to attract participants with different backgrounds and from different regions of Ukraine, which was monitored during the data collection process.

Considering wartime, an online survey was considered appropriate for this study, as it allowed Ukrainian psychologists from different locations to be contacted in a short time frame and provided confidentiality. A questionnaire included sociodemographic data, educational background, various working experiences, and purposely developed questions to measure EBPP attitudes and implementation. Most of the questions regarding EBPP (e.g., quality of university education, perceived level of knowledge regarding EBPP, attitudes to EBPP elements as valuable or not, and intensity of their implementation) were formulated as 7-point Likert scales. All variables and relevant data types are listed in Table A1 of the Appendix.

The invitation for participation in the survey was distributed online through emails and social media platforms of the largest psychologists’ associations in Ukraine (National Psychological Association, Ukrainian Union of Psychotherapists). Psychologists were invited to participate voluntarily in the survey regarding their attitudes to EBPP and could withdraw from participation at any time. The survey responses were collected from December 14, 2023, till March 7, 2024, via the SurveyMonkey platform. Written consent forms for participation were collected along with survey responses.

Overall, 449 Ukrainian psychologists confirmed they received the invitation to fill in the survey. Among them, 81.5% (n = 366) provided complete responses used in data analysis. Incomplete responses were excluded from data analysis.

Data analysis included descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), linear regression analysis, and Pearson correlation calculation using the R-based software Jamovi 2.3.28. The data and Jamovi logs are available at the Open Science Framework repository at Velykodna and Deputatov (2024).

Overall, 366 Ukrainian psychologists aged 21 to 67 (M = 38.3; SD = 9.54) with 1–37 years of work experience (M = 8.4; SD = 7.03) provided complete responses to the questionnaire. Most of them were middle-career females currently located in Ukraine who had graduated from Ukrainian universities. The full sociodemographic characteristics gathered from the survey are presented in Table 2.

Most respondents held master’s diplomas in psychology (71.58%), were members of psychological societies (68.03%), and were trained to provide at least one intervention/psychotherapy method with proven efficacy (77.05%). Among the 29 methods and interventions, psychologists mentioned psychoanalytic psychotherapy (23.50%), art therapy (21.31%), cognitive-behavioral (21.31%), and gestalt therapy (17.76%) most often.

The variance of predictors and outcomes within the sample is presented in Table 3.

Interestingly, 1.64% of the surveyed psychologists assessed their knowledge regarding EBPP as ‘nothing’ and 4.1% as ‘almost nothing’, while 7.1% responded that they did not know if they implemented EBPP. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a moderate relationship between the Belief that a psychologist implements EBPP and the Intensity of EBPP elements implementation by them (r = .196, p < .001; CI 95%: .082–.304).

The development of prediction models was performed as follows. The hypothesized models proposed in the theoretical framework (Figure 1) were tested via linear regression analysis by adding variables one by one as possible predictors to the calculation. Each tested variable remained in the prediction model or was rejected depending on its p-value (p < .05 was estimated as a cutoff for this process). Changes in the p-value of other model variables were also considered when adding each subsequent predictor. If adding a new statistically significant predictor made the previously added predictors insignificant and vice versa, the predictor with a larger β-value that resulted in a larger R² remained in the model.

Following the described procedure, we developed two prediction models for the Belief that a psychologist implements EBPP and the Intensity of EBPP elements implementation, explaining 24.4% (F = 30.8, p < .001, adjusted R² = .236) and 18.5% (F = 14.1, p < .001, adjusted R² = .172) of their variance with 3 and 5 predictors, respectively. Two variables — Membership in psychological association and the Perceived level of knowledge regarding EBPP — significantly contributed to both models.

The developed prediction models for the Belief that a psychologist implements EBPP and the Intensity of EBPP elements implementation were summarized in Table 4.

The strongest variable that predicted psychologists’ Belief that they implement EBPP was that they provided Interventions/methods with proven efficacy (β = .908, p < .001). Almost two times less influential was the psychologist’s Membership in psychological association (β = .501, p < .001), followed by the Perceived level of knowledge regarding EBPP (β = .237, p < .001). Instead, the strongest predictors for the Intensity of EBPP elements implementation were Personal therapy of the psychologist (β = .41, p = .015) and Supervision (β = .367, p = .029), which, however, had rather large standard error and p-value. They were followed by a Positive attitude to EBPP elements (β = .254, p < .001) and Membership in psychological association (β = .236, p = .02). The Perceived level of knowledge regarding EBPP (β = .101, p = .003) was performed as the weakest but significant predictor in this model.

Interestingly, work experience and educational background (e.g., number and location of universities, satisfaction with the quality of university education regarding EBPP), as well as age and gender, did not predict the studied outcomes in this sample.

Utilization of Interventions/methods with proven efficacy was the strongest predictor of psychologists’ Belief that they implement EBPP, while not predicting the Intensity of EBPP elements implementation in practice. First, this finding may reflect the well-known confusion of EBPP and EBT revealed in previous studies (DiMeo et al., 2012; Newburg, 2020; Wilson et al., 2009). Second, we suppose that it may highlight that the EBT training programs may be seen as potentially contradictory to the EBPP approach generally, at least in Ukrainian educational curricula (e.g., by developing a psychologist’s impression that their interventions are already evidence-based enough as they utilize EBT). However, this point requires further research among Ukrainian psychologists.

Unlike psychologists’ Belief that they implement EBPP, the strongest predictors for the Intensity of EBPP elements implementation were the Personal therapy of the psychologist and receiving Supervision. Although previous research suggests that an experience of personal therapy does not predict the effectiveness of psychologists’ practice (Moe & Thimm, 2021), it is seen as fundamental for professional training, identity development, and self-care of professionals (Norcross & VandenBos, 2018), including for learning EBTs (Orlinsky et al., 2005). Similarly, there is growing evidence of the contribution of supervision to EBPP training outcomes (Barrett et al., 2020; Borders et al., 2023). Therefore, we assume that Personal therapy and Supervision as a part of psychologists’ training may be seen as valuable contributors to further EBPP implementation in practice.

Positive attitudes to EBPP elements also predicted the Intensity of EBPP elements implementation in our study. This finding aligns with previous research focused on the attitudes and implementation of EBPP. For instance, a recent review of 46 studies empirically examining factors associated with implementing science into practice revealed that most papers reported a strong influence of attitudes on it (Fishman et al., 2021). Data collected among Australian psychologists also showed that positive attitudes to EBPP influenced practice but were also moderated by gender and shorter work experience (Hamill & Wiener, 2018). In Portugal, research revealed that psychologists were more likely to use specific interventions when had a positive attitude toward them (Mendes-Santos et al., 2020). However, this result differs from previous findings from German-speaking countries where positive attitudes toward EBPP did not correspond to the higher implementation of its elements, e.g., reviewing evidence, associated with a lack of time (Frytz et al., 2022). Further research would benefit from investigating the specification of attitudes to EBPP elements regarding the appeal, requirements, openness, and divergence, as proposed by Aarons and colleagues (2010).

In our study, Membership in Psychological Associations significantly contributed to both outcomes — psychologists’ Belief that they implement EBPP and the Intensity of EBPP elements implementation. First, this finding could be seen in the light of the history of EBPP, which shows that professional psychological associations play a significant role in its dissemination and implementation in a specific country, including by officially formulated requirements for psychologists’ practice (e.g., APA, 2006; CPA, 2012). Second, research revealed that psychologists consider professional standards and publications on EBPP provided by professional institutions as supporters for EBPP implementation (Flegge, 2023). No less important is that In Ukraine, psychological associations currently contribute to EBPP promotion by offering EBT training and occasional brief advanced training regarding EBPP. It is important because considering the best available research, which is a part of EBPP, requires lifelong education of psychologists (Spring, 2007). This finding also highlights the potential benefits of engaging professional associations in Ukraine in EBPP promotion.

The Perceived level of knowledge regarding EBPP slightly but significantly affected both outcomes assessed in this study. First, this finding may be associated with the specificity of this variable as it was based on psychologists’ self-assessment of their knowledge, and it should be recalled that, as previous research revealed, psychologists tend to assess their knowledge of EBPP higher than their colleagues’ (Middleton et al., 2020). However, even those assessed as skilled in scientific data analysis by independent observers were not necessarily able to use their knowledge during the very interventions (Jiménez-Pérez & Vargas-Contreras, 2020). Nevertheless, previous research suggests that education regarding EBPP results in increased knowledge and improved attitudes toward EBPP (Lim et al., 2012), while more intensive training models lead to the implementation of EBPP in a psychologist’s behavior (Frank et al., 2020). Future research should be focused on what exactly is known regarding EBPP among Ukrainian psychologists.

Interestingly, the Perceived quality of university education regarding EBPP did not predict the implementation of EBPP, while previous research reported that learning EBPP at universities significantly predicted the positive attitude toward EBPP (Nguyen-Thi et al., 2023). This finding requires further investigation, including the expertise of educational curricula at universities in Ukraine, i.e., whether they cover EBPP topics.

Finally, regarding the revealed moderate correlation between the studied outcomes and the difference in their prediction models, we suppose it reflects the previously found non-equivalence of knowing (as a cognitive aspect) and utilizing (as a behavioral aspect) the EBPP approach (Jiménez-Pérez & Vargas-Contreras, 2020). For educational purposes, it supports the idea of seeking an optimal balance between didactic training focused on the transition of knowledge of EBPP and competence training focused on skills development to implement EBPP elements (McHugh & Barlow, 2010).

This study has several limitations associated with sample size and specifics. First, the sample size is rather small, which reflects a widespread problem in collecting data in wartime Ukraine (Pavlova et al., 2024), including among psychologists (Velykodna et al., 2023). Second, gender distribution reflects both the current difficulty of involving men in data collection due to wartime (Lushchak et al., 2024) and gender inequity in mental health positions (Velykodna et al., 2023). One variable (psychologists’ Belief that they implement EBPP) used a 5-point Likert scale, measuring by mistake, while other variables used a 7-point Likert scale, which complicated the comparison of β-values obtained in this study.

Overall, the present study showed that EBPP implementation in Ukraine is only partly associated with predictors extracted from a literature review from previous research, such as EBT utilization, personal therapy and supervision, positive attitudes regarding EBPP, membership in psychological associations, and perceived knowledge. Moreover, psychologists’ belief that they implement EBPP only moderately correlated with its utilization in practice, which highlights the gap between cognitive and behavioral aspects of EBPP utilization. While the perceived quality of university education did not predict the dependent variables, instead of the membership in professional associations, we believe that Ukraine-based mental health professionals would benefit from disseminating EBPP knowledge both through university education and within associations. However, further qualitative research involving Ukrainian psychologists is needed to address the gaps revealed in this study.