Training psychology interns to teach verbal and non-verbal repertoires in children with autism spectrum disorder

Behavioral Skills Training (BST) represents an effective and efficient approach to train staff in implementing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) interventions to learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with the purpose of reducing undesirable behaviors and establishing more appropriate ones. It comprises the following components: (1) instructions on ABA basic principles, regarding the teaching of behavior targets; (2) modeling, with demonstration of behaviors to be emitted during the teaching; (3) behavioral rehearsal with a confederate; and (4) performance feedback. The goal of the current research was to evaluate the effects of BST training on the establishment of repertoires, in four undergraduate Psychology interns, to teach nonverbal (audiovisual pairing and motor imitation) and verbal (labeling and answering questions) skills to a confederate, who pretended to act like a child with ASD. Thereafter, it was also a goal to assess generalization of the teaching to a real child with ASD. The participants were unfamiliar with ASD and ABA, but the results of the study suggested that BST improved accuracy during the teaching of targets to the confederate. In baseline, the percentage of accuracy per participant were the following: P1 (4.55%); P2 (9.73%); P3 (13.76%); P4 (22.29%). All participants reached criterion when BST, with both immediate and delayed feedback, was implemented. Performance accuracy was above 90% for all. In the end, generalization probes were conducted during the teaching of targets to a real child with ASD, and performance accuracy was also above 90%.

‘It’s a lot trickier than I expected’: Assessment Issues and Dilemmas for Intern Psychologists

Beyond the basic information provided in foundation texts and test manuals, there is a notable scarcity of professional literature addressing complex issues and dilemmas in assessment. At times, psychologists need to make decisions based on their professional experience or personal preferences, and it is possible that some of these decisions are made without adequate justification or reflection. Intern psychologists may be confused by the differing advice they are given by university staff, supervisors and experienced practitioners. Our aim in this project was to identify specific issues in psychoeducational assessment that need clarity, guidance and reflection, not only during postgraduate training, but also across the professional lifespan. Focus groups with educational and developmental psychology interns revealed confusion about aspects of test administration and interpretation, as well as a number of challenging professional issues. The findings have implications for trainers and supervisors, as well as for experienced practitioners.

Perspectives of psychology graduates on the registration of psychologists in Zimbabwe

This study sought to explore the views of psychology graduates on the process of registration as a psychologist in Zimbabwe. Specific areas of interest to the researchers were the views of psychology graduates on the academic qualifications required for registration, the post graduate internship programme, continuing professional development and the board examinations. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was done by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews to twelve purposely selected psychology graduates. All participants had a master’s degree of which five were registered psychologists and the rest were not registered. Three major themes were generated from the analysis of the participants’ interviews and these were: academic qualifications for registration, post graduate internship, board examinations and continuing professional development. Generally, the results reveal lack of choices at masters’ degree programmes resulting in participants embarking on counselling and community psychology degrees. They also showed dislike on the continuing professional development points due to barriers such as localisation of workshops and lack of time to do research. The board of examination was viewed positively. The study recommends that the Allied Health Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe needs to collaborate with universities, psychology interns and registered psychologists in the best way forward in registration and practice of psychologists. Key Words: Registration; Internship; Psychologist; Qualification; Board Examination

A cross-sectional survey of South African psychology interns’ perceptions of negative supervision events

Prevalence rates of negative supervision events among Psychology interns in South Africa are non-existent. This article investigates the incidence of negative supervision events and explores the influence of various contextual variables on supervision outcomes. Quantitative data were obtained via a web survey from a sample ( N = 92) of Clinical and Counselling psychology interns across nine provinces in South Africa. In all, 42 (or 45.6%) of the 92 participants had a negative supervision event during their internship, 26.19% categorized their experience as ‘Harmful’, and 73.81% (or 31) had an ‘Inadequate’ experience. A total of 14 (or 22.6%) interns experienced a negative supervision event on a weekly basis. Proportionately more White interns reported experiencing negative supervision events and had the highest number of reported harmful experiences. Neither race nor gender significantly impacted the feedback and evaluation process. A significantly larger number of mixed race and mixed culture dyads reported harmful negative supervision compared to same race/culture dyads. There was no significant positive relationship between inadequate or harmful negative supervision event and sexual orientation, theoretical orientation, gender, religion, and language. Implications for training and professional development are discussed.

Undergraduate Internship Supervision in Psychology Departments: Use of Experiential Learning Best Practices

This study examined trends in how psychology internships are supervised compared to current experiential learning best practices in the literature. We sent a brief online survey to relevant contact persons for colleges/universities with psychology departments throughout the United States ( n = 149 responded). Overall, the majority of institutions offered academic credit for internships through letter grading and had one faculty member supervising all psychology interns. The top three academic requirements for internship courses included: completing a reflection paper; completing a work diary; and individual meetings with the faculty supervisor. Although these practices promote experiential learning, one opportunity for improvement is promoting students’ professional development. Psychology departments can use these findings to inform their institution’s internship course design.