COVID-19 Adaptations for Health Service Psychology Internship Training in a Medical School

Agazzi, Heather; Najmabadi, S. M.; Flood, Jacquelyn; Cimorelli, Danielle; Chenneville, Tiffany

doi:10.1007/s10880-021-09784-2

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The results of the present study were somewhat surprising, as we expected a larger perceived impact of the pandemic on psychology internships [17]. There are several possible explanations.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 70%

Perceived effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical psychology internships in Sweden

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on societies and health care services worldwide, including the clinical training of psychology interns. Some of the pandemic-related restrictions were in breach of the internship requirements, increasing the risk of failed internships and a shortage of new health care professionals. This situation needed to be assessed. Methods Web-based surveys were administered to clinical psychology interns in Sweden 2020 (n = 267) and 2021 (n = 340), as well as to supervisors in 2020 (n = 240). The supervisors also provided information about their interns (n = 297). Results Risk factors for a prolonged internship, such as pandemic-related absence from work (12.4% in 2020 and 7.9% in 2021), unqualified work (0% in 2020, 3% in 2021), and change in internship content were low. However, remote interactions using digital services increased. Face-to-face patient contacts decreased significantly from 2020 to 2021 (Χ2 = 5.17, p = .023), while remote work and remote supervision increased significantly (Χ2 = 53.86, p < .001 and Χ2 = 8.88, p = .003, respectively). Still, the content in patient contacts and supervision was maintained. Most interns reported no difficulties with remote supervision or supervision in personal protective equipment. However, of the interns who reported difficulties, role-play and skills training in remote supervision were perceived as significantly harder (Χ2 = 28.67, p < .001) than in supervision using personal protective equipment. Conclusions The present study indicates that clinical training of psychology interns in Sweden could proceed despite a societal crisis. Results suggest that the psychology internship was flexible in the sense that it could be realized in combined face-to-face and remote formats without losing much of its value. However, the results also suggest that some skills may be harder to train in remote supervision.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 70%

Perceived effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical psychology internships in Sweden

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nevertheless, some interns who experienced lengthy interruptions to service provision were later encouraged to “make up” for lost clinical hours because of COVID-19 through nonclinical duties (e.g., making pamphlets, outreach to college students) or were encouraged to add additional clients to their caseload, adding additional responsibilities on top of existing clinical work. In contrast, other programs used competency-based approaches to guide their adjustments to training, which helped them to successfully navigate some of the disruptions to training during the pandemic (Agazzi et al, 2021). Such shifts provide opportunities to embrace competency-based standards, which may be more conducive to ensuring quality HSP internship training, even outside of major public-health emergencies.…”

Section: Challenges In Hsp Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systemic Challenges in Internship Training for Health-Service Psychology: A Call to Action From Trainee Stakeholders

Palitsky

Kaplan

Brodt

et al. 2022

Clinical Psychological Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The challenges observed in health-service-psychology (HSP) training during COVID-19 revealed systemic and philosophical issues that preexisted the pandemic but became more visible during the global health crisis. In a position article written by 23 trainees across different sites and training specializations, we use lessons learned from COVID-19 as a touchstone for a call to action in HSP training. Historically, trainee voices have been conspicuously absent from literature about clinical training. We describe long-standing dilemmas in HSP training that were exacerbated by the pandemic and will continue to require resolution after the pandemic has subsided. We make recommendations for systems-level changes that would advance equity and sustainability in HSP training. This article advances the conversation about HSP training by including the perspective of trainees as essential stakeholders.

show abstract

“…The latter, therefore, often incurred extra financial costs to mitigate the aforementioned challenges – despite the fact that they often struggled financially (Lourens & Uren, 2023). In instances where interns faced challenges, such as not having sufficient internet connectivity or unreliable connectivity, they worried these challenges would negatively influence their therapeutic alliance, containment, and rapport with clients (Agazzi et al, 2022; Lourens & Uren, 2023).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘They couldn’t really gauge where we were and what we were struggling with’: intern psychologists’ experiences of support within their placement during COVID-19

Uren,

Lourens

2024

South African Journal of Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic had detrimental impacts on academic and professional training globally. There were demands to salvage the academic year, ensure maximum competencies under the circumstances and safeguard training psychologists. Given these demands, it is no surprise that training psychologists often experience burnout and threats to their mental well-being. We conducted seven semi-structured interviews with South African intern psychologists from the 2020 cohort about their internship experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed two predominant themes regarding the influence of supportive and unsupportive experiences. First, while some interns reported receiving support from their psychotherapy supervisors, most highlighted the general disconnect from them during COVID-19-imposed lockdowns. The latter mostly led to a rupture in the supervisory alliance, leaving the participants feeling a sense of loss. Despite this disconnect, many interns nonetheless expressed empathy for their supervisors, who also had to navigate the unchartered territory of online psychotherapeutic and supervisory work. In stark contrast to this disconnect from their supervisors, the second theme illuminates the strong connection between interns. Reportedly, the hardship of COVID-19 strengthened the connection between the interns and provided them with a safe space where they could get emotional and practical support. The research reiterates the role of support and the importance of a broader conceptualisation of competency that goes beyond abilities and skills towards a more integrated professional identity.

show abstract

COVID-19 Adaptations for Health Service Psychology Internship Training in a Medical School

Cited by 4 publications

References 8 publications

Perceived effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical psychology internships in Sweden

Perceived effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical psychology internships in Sweden

Systemic Challenges in Internship Training for Health-Service Psychology: A Call to Action From Trainee Stakeholders

‘They couldn’t really gauge where we were and what we were struggling with’: intern psychologists’ experiences of support within their placement during COVID-19

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About