Social Justice and Advocacy in University-Based Play Therapy Training Clinics

This chapter examines how university training programs and clinics can help play therapists develop social justice advocacy competency. Developing social justice advocacy can help play therapists understand social inequalities and oppressive systems, experience empathy with clients, and integrate advocacy action into their work. Training programs can help facilitate social justice advocacy for students through curriculum focus, service learning, and continuing education opportunities that promote awareness and empathy. Play therapy services offered in university clinics also offer opportunities for interns to increase understanding of social justice advocacy through client interactions and clinical supervision. Clinic directors promote social justice advocacy through managing just organization procedures and coordinating advocacy and outreach initiatives.

Considerations for Setting Up Play Therapy Training Clinics

When setting up a play therapy training clinic, there are many considerations to explore regarding designing a therapeutic space, selecting toys and other materials, exploring the rationale for the toy selection and examining the cultural considerations in play therapy settings. This chapter will review the different types of play therapy clinics and the specific toys recommended based on the fourteen primary play therapy theoretical orientations. General considerations will be reviewed when utilizing art media and other materials, books and bibliotherapy, puppets and puppet theaters, sandtrays and miniatures, and psychotherapeutic games. Recommendations will be made for establishing community and university-based play therapy training sites offering clinical and mock play therapy services. Suggestions will be made regarding the importance of establishing play therapy laboratories in the classroom setting when providing graduate play therapy instruction. Additional recommendations will be made for the 2019 Play Therapy Best Practices published by the Association for Play Therapy.

Considerations for assessment training competencies in health service psychology programs in the age of COVID-19

Health service psychologists have made a rapid transition to delivering telepsychology services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision of remote assessment services, or teleassessment, however, has lagged behind given the limited evidence base. This delay has been uniquely chal-lenging for university training clinics, which are equally responsible for developing trainee assess-ment competencies and providing high quality assessments to clients. Training clinics have been tasked with implementing programmatic adaptation to meet this need with limited guidance. We address this gap by describing the considerations university training clinics must make under phys-ical distancing policies, including protections for the health of trainees and clients, ensuring stand-ardized administration of assessments, providing developmentally appropriate training opportuni-ties, and guaranteeing transparency in the consent and feedback processes. We recommend solu-tions to reconcile these inherent challenges and highlight training opportunities as they relate to the development of profession-wide competencies and ethical principles. These recommendations demonstrate that by integrating flexibility into program curriculums, training clinics can continue to adhere to accreditation standards while developing trainee competencies in assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Internship Experience in Orthopaedics and Traumatology and its Impact on Becoming a Specialist

Introduction The German practical year is the last clinical placement period during Medical School. However, it remains unclear how medical students evaluate the practical year in orthopaedics and traumatology (Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie; O & U) and whether it has an impact on becoming an O & U specialist. Method We analysed data of 146 medical students (46,7% female) who completed the placement in O & U. From the evaluation, 37 items were included in the analyses. Participants who could imagine becoming an O & U specialist (O & U-Ja) following graduation were statistically compared to those who could not (O & U-Nein). Results Overall 123 (83.7%) trainees indicated that they would like to become an O & U specialist (O & U-Ja), 18 (12.8%) negated (O & U-Nein) and 6 (4.1%) were undecided. Groups did not differ for sex and age (sex: Chi² = 2.50, p = 0.114; age: F [1.93] < 1, p = 0.764). Group differences were found for practical orientation, independency, acquisition of anamnesis and diagnostics skills and problem-solving expertise with students who could imagine becoming an O & U specialist (O & U-Ja) giving the highest ratings. Discussion Evaluations of the last medical year are essential in order to continuously improve the internship experience and to attract students towards a certain medical field and, moreover, to post-graduate specialist training. Clinics and institutions who already emphasize on the factors derived from this evaluation, or are continuously working on improvement, might be more able to attract young professionals, since personnel acquisition is starting early in the medical field.

Effects of Clinic First Educational Interventions on Resident Wellness and Engagement

Background and Objectives: Tensions between clinical and hospital training, along with dysfunctional family medicine training clinics, have resulted in continuity clinic being the least favorite part of training for some residents. These factors are all contributors to burnout. We hypothesized that following Clinic First action steps to prioritize and enhance outpatient clinic would positively affect resident wellness and clinic engagement. This study describes our interventions and their effects within the Oregon Health &amp; Science University (OHSU) Family Medicine 4-year Portland residency program. Methods: In July 2017 the Oregon Health &amp; Science University Family Medicine Portland residency program implemented scheduling and curricular interventions inspired by the Clinic First model. We conducted a mixed-methods cross-sectional study using focus groups and surveys to understand the effects of these interventions on resident wellness and engagement. Results: Clinic First-inspired interventions, particularly a 2+2 scheduling model, decreased transitions within the day, and a clinic immersion month were associated with improved residents’ perception of wellness. These interventions had variable effects on clinic engagement. Eighty-eight percent of interns surveyed about the month-long clinic orientation in the beginning of residency reported that they felt prepared managing continuity patients in the clinic setting and their upcoming rotations. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that Clinic First-inspired structural changes can be associated with improvement in resident perceptions of wellness and aspects of clinic engagement. This can give educators a sense of hope as well as tangible steps to take to improve these difficult and important issues.