Psychology Training Courses Research Articles

The psychological adaptation of psychologists in clinical training: the role of cognition, coping and social support

The current study sought to profile the psychological adaptation of psychologists in clinical training and examine the extent to which appraisal, coping and social support were related to psychological adaptation. A cross-sectional survey questionnaire design was used. A sample of 183 psychologists in clinical training (60.2% response rate) from 15 British clinical psychology training courses participated. They completed measures of cognition (appraisals of threat and control over course-related stressors), coping and social support. A multidimensional assessment of psychological adaptation included measures of perceived stress, self-esteem, anxiety and depression. Trainee clinical psychologists reported high levels of stress, but did not experience extensive problems of psychological adaptation in terms of anxiety, depression, self-esteem problems, marital problems, family problems, external stressors, interpersonal conflict, work adjustment or substance abuse. However, a significant subgroup reported self-esteem problems, work adjustment problems, depression and anxiety. Gender, age, current clinical placement and training course were related to psychological adaptation. Appraisal processes, coping and social support predicted a significant amount of variation in psychological adaptation. Appraisals of threat, avoidance coping, emotional support from clinical supervisors, emotional support from courses and emotional support from a confidante at home all predicted the variance in psychological adaptation. The findings were discussed in terms of a cognitive theory of stress and adaptation and implications for clinical psychology training were considered. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Views of aspiring entrants

Summary The aim of this research was to ascertain the views of applicants to educational psychology training courses regarding the prospect of changing the existing 1‐year Masters course to a 3‐year Doctorate. To date a number of groups within the profession, including principal educational psychologists and course tutors, have been surveyed. However, applicants to educational psychology training courses had not been consulted. An anonymous questionnaire was sent to the 219 individuals who applied for a place on the MSc course in Educational Psychology at University College London commencing in September 1997. Of these applicants 131 responded and their completed questionnaires were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Implications for the introduction of 3‐year courses and for the funding of training are discussed.

Clinical psychology postgraduate training. Meeting the shortfall.

NHS targets for training clinical psychologists have not been met. Unless training resources are increased there will continue to be a shortfall in service provision. In order to ascertain those areas where training resources are most needed, a postal questionnaire survey of all British clinical psychology training courses was conducted. There was a 73 per cent response rate. Results showed that major areas of need are: (1) increased recruitment of course staff whose major responsibility is training, rather than an over reliance on clinical psychologists who have major NHS responsibilities; (2) greater representation of specialist areas; some priority services such as work with older adults or people with learning disabilities are under-represented; and (3) more equitable pay--not all university courses offer salaries on clinical scales.

IV. What they Don't Teach you on Clinical Psychology Training Courses

IV. What they Don't Teach you on Clinical Psychology Training Courses

Military Aeromedical Psychology Training

The Aeromedical Psychology Training Course (APTC) has been developed to provide selected clinical psychologists with specialized training in the fundamentals and application of aeromedical psychology. The APTC was implemented in Fiscal Year 1992 under the sponsorship of the U.S. Army Office of the Surgeon General, and hosted by the U.S. Army School of Aviation Medicine, Fort Rucker, Alabama. This article discusses the objectives of the course, the course curriculum, and the skills that an aeromedically trained psychologist may offer aviation medicine.

Getting on clinical psychology training courses: responses to frequently asked questions

New psychology graduates require a great deal of guidance associated with the career route into clinical psychology. At Newcastle, a series of new fact sheets has considerably facilitated the task of responding to the hundreds of enquiries that the doctorate course receives each year.

Applied Psychologists as Problem Solvers: Devising a Personal Model

Summary This paper describes how one educational psychology training course introduces problem solving to its trainees. Over a three year period tutors have increasingly provided less and less in the way of a blueprint for trainees and more and more a set of experiences designed to help them devise and then test out their own individual models. In the main part of the paper the first two authors describe the experiences that they, as tutors, provide and in the appendix the third and fourth authors outline the models they, as trainees, have developed by the end of a training year.

Assessment in Response to Individual Referrals

This paper provides a summary of the deliberations of a working party on assessment set up by the tutors to the 14 educational psychology training courses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As such it reflects the thoughts of all 14 tutors who subsequently discussed the document and agreed to use it as the basis for their taught courses on assessment in the professional training of educational psychologists.