Psychosocial impacts of training to provide professional help: Harm and growth

Introduction Research has consistently demonstrated professionals in helping roles (“helping professionals”) experience vicarious trauma, moral injury, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout. Vicarious post-traumatic growth has also been identified in the literature. This article aimed to contribute to understanding the experiences of these constructs of trainee helping professionals. Emphasis was placed on how to foster vicarious post-traumatic growth. Methods A qualitative semi-structured interview was designed to enable the researchers to explore the experiences of 14 trainee psychologists from an Australian Master of Clinical Psychology program. Results It was identified that burnout, and beginning stages of vicarious trauma, moral injury, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress might occur during psychologists’ training. Five elements underpin vicarious post-traumatic growth, four of which were reflected in this article. A need and suggestions for how to further develop vicarious post-traumatic growth are discussed. Conclusion This research could go on to be applied to curriculum development and practice policy, ultimately leading to improved early-intervention and ongoing systems of support for helping professionals. This, in turn, would improve quality of care in communities.

Rethinking the Admissions Interview: Piloting Multiple Mini-Interviews in a Graduate Psychology Program

Health profession programs routinely utilize traditional interviews in admissions as a means of assessing important non-academic characteristics (e.g., critical thinking, interpersonal skills, judgment) of candidates. However, the reliability and validity of traditional interviews is highly questionable. Given this, multiple health profession programs (e.g., medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy) have implemented multiple mini-interviews as an alternative for assessing non-academic characteristics. This paper describes the development and implementation of multiple mini-interviews in the admissions process for a doctoral clinical psychology program, one of the health professions yet to use multiple mini-interviews. This paper also examines the feasibility and acceptability of the multiple mini-interviews in this program. Results of a mixed-method survey of all 120 candidates who participated in admissions days are presented along with discussion of factors associated with satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Recommendations for program refinement and application to other graduate psychology programs for improved admissions processes are discussed.

Demystifying One’s Chances of Acceptance into Clinical PhD Psychology Programs

The present study investigated the commonly accepted view from various sources (e.g., American Psychological Association [APA]), which indicates the significant difficulty in being accepted into a PhD in clinical psychology program. Data were collected (total number of applicants, applicants accepted, and number of accepted students who matriculated) from 100 APA-accredited PhD in clinical psychology programs that are also members of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology. These data were used to examine why the probability of acceptance into at least one clinical PhD program may be higher than previously thought. The results showed an acceptance–matriculation discrepancy—the overall number of individuals accepted into clinical psychology PhD programs is higher than that of matriculated students. In addition, being accepted into a clinical PhD program is a function of the number of applications per applicant. The article concludes with a discussion of how applicants to clinical PhD programs should approach the application process.

PREDOCTORAL PSYCHOLOGY INTERN SELECTION: DOES PROGRAM TYPE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the type of program (school psychology, clinical psychology or counseling psychology) is a factor in the predoctoral psychology internship selection process. Simulated application materials describing a prospective intern, identical in all respects except for the doctoral program type, were randomly sent to 535 directors of Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) internship sites. One-third of the sites each received application materials that indicated that the student's training was in an APA-accredited clinical psychology program, an APA-accred- ited counseling psychology program, or an APA-accredited school psychology program. Internship directors or intern selection committee members from 302 APPIC-listed internship sites responded, resulting in a 58% response rate.There is a pattern of greater acceptance for students from clinical psychology programs, with students from counseling psychology programs accepted somewhat less frequently, and stu- dents from school psychology programs being most often rejected. The results suggest that internship selectors may use a judgment heuristic that clinical psychology students are more suited to internships than are counseling and – especially – school psychology students during initial screening of internship applicants, even though there is no empirical evidence to support the heuristic. Internship selectors are advised to become more aware of potential biases toward students from counseling and school psychology programs.