Student loan debt has become an issue of national concern in the context of rapidly increasing higher education costs. Graduate education can be prohibitively expensive, particularly at the doctoral level. The present study provides an updated and comprehensive analysis of the financial circumstances and debt loads related to pursuing a graduate degree in psychology. The study surveyed a random sample of graduate students and early career psychologists (ECPs) listed in the American Psychological Association membership database. Participants were asked about their debt loads for educational costs, sources of financial support, living circumstances, financial stress, and the impact of student loan debt on their personal and professional lives. The results indicate that current debt loads are substantially higher than what has been previously reported (Michalski, Kohout, Wicherski, & Hart, 2011), with some variation by subfield and type of degree. A number of participants endorsed significant financial stress, as well as having to delay major life milestones because of their debt. While education costs and loan debt have continued to increase, starting salaries appear relatively stagnant, suggesting the need for a thoughtful cost/benefit analysis of graduate education in psychology. The psychology community is urged to increase awareness of and advocate for these issues, with several specific advocacy steps recommended.
Training and Education in Professional Psychology is published quarterly (beginning in February) by the American Psychological Association and the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers. The journal is dedicated to enhancing supervision and training provided by psychologists and publishes manuscripts that contribute to and advance professional psychology education. For more information, including how to subscribe, please visit the journal's Web site at www.apa.org/pubs/journals/tep.
The internship is an integrative training experience and the capstone of doctoral training for developing professionals (Madson, Hasan, Williams-Nickelson, Kettmann, & Van Sickle, 2007). The imbalance between supply and demand of internships is an increasingly critical problem in professional psychology and one that the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) is committed to resolving with all stakeholders. This paper will provide a brief overview of the problem, summarize the efforts of APAGS to address the issue since its last article on the internship crisis (Madson et al., 2007), and provide a framework by which APAGS will continue to address the internship crisis-an issue we have defined as one of the most critical facing psychology graduate students today.Although systemic data collection was not underway at the time, it was suspected that the number of applicants outweighed the SHANDA R. WELLS earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from MidWestern University. She is currently a behavioral health psychologist at the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin working in integrated care with a dual appointment in pédiatrie and adolescent medicine and psychiatry. In addition to training and education, her research and clinical interests include integrated health care, primary care behavioral health and pédiatrie obesity.
Despite a continuing need for clinicians to engage in socially-‐just practice that addresses systemic factors impacting the mental health of clients through advocacy, there are often limited formalized opportunities for doctoral counseling psychology students to be exposed to and to engage in community or public arena advocacy. Two counseling psychology faculty members initiated and supervised a Participatory Action Research (PAR) team comprised of six advanced counseling psychology doctoral students and three early career counseling psychologists with experience conducting community and public arena advocacy. The nine PAR team members explored the doctoral students’ experiences conducting advocacy during their doctoral training and the resulting qualitative data was analyzed using a content analysis methodology. The study results highlight the challenges inherent in facilitating and conducting these types of advocacy training activities, discuss essential supports provided by their doctoral programs, and offer recommendations to counseling psychology faculty interested in preparing their students to engage in this work.
Unaccompanied and undocumented immigrant minors (UUIM) have become the focus of increased attention. Unfortunately, public discourse is often decontextualized, simplistic, and polarized. Empirical literature fails to capture the experiences of UUIM and identify strategies to promote their well-being. In this article we begin to address these gaps through qualitative inquiry. We analyzed written narratives of 292 Latino UUIM using a theoretical thematic analysis. Participants described motives for, and experiences of, the migration process. Guided by Ungar et al.'s (2007) conceptualization of resilience, five subthemes emerged: access to material resources, relationships, identity and cohesion, social justice, and perilous journey. The results from our study highlight (a) the youth's difficult and often traumatic experiences in their homeland, (b) the factors that made migrating to the United States appealing to them, and (c) the dangerous journey they experienced. Implications for practice, research, and advocacy are discussed.
The implications of these findings for supporting students, working to resolve the internship crisis, and adapting policy are discussed.
Given high recidivism rates and the vulnerability of detained youth, the authors posit that juvenile detention centers may be most efficacious by serving as both place and process to create career opportunity through vocational training. The authors review the psychosocial factors contributing to delinquency and the primary theories of rehabilitation that extend to detained youth. They highlight key ingredients to effective vocational programming in juvenile detention, such as integration of traditional career theories with constructs pertinent to this population (emerging adulthood, sociopolitical development, social cognitive career theory). Considerations for successful implementation of vocational programs in juvenile detention are also offered.
Licensure as a psychologist in the United States and Canada depends in part on passing the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP). The current study examines the quantitative relationship between demographic and training characteristics on EPPP first-time pass rate and provides qualitative data that speaks to viable approaches to better prepare future test-takers. A survey was administered in 2018 to a sample of 1,691 early career members (i.e., earned their doctorate in the last 10 years) of the American Psychological Association assessing EPPP examination attempts, licensure, program characteristics, postdoctoral training, and demographic variables. First-time EPPP pass rate was significantly associated with race (higher for Whites than psychologists of color); degree type (higher for PhD graduates than PsyD graduates); and accreditation status (higher for individuals attending accredited doctoral and/or internship programs). Researchers also thematically analyzed responses from 194 individuals who did not pass the EPPP initially, about what they believed might have helped them do so. Participants wrote about tools and methods used to learn material and practice for the exam; structural factors related to test accessibility and perceived validity; and individual and situational factors that impacted their ability to focus or study. Future directions for the preservation of diversity in the psychology workforce implicate numerous stakeholders. Public Significance StatementA mixed-methods approach was used to replicate previous research identifying differential first-time EPPP pass rates based on demographics and program characteristics and introduced new qualitative data. Findings suggest that structural steps be taken to increase preparation for the examination, offer remediation for those who did not pass, and renew evaluation of the test to reduce any chance of it reducing diversity of psychology as a field.
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