Minority student recruitment and retention practices among schools of professional psychology: A national survey and analysis.

Abstract

Rationale for Conducting the Study Shortages of Minority Clinical Psychology Students and PractitionersThe continued underrepresentation of ethnic minorities at all levels of psychology training and practice and in all subfields is well documented. Recent estimates of all doctoral-level psychologists in the work force show no overall increase in the participation of ethnic minorities over the past 10 years, with census data placing that figure at slightly more than 5% (Kohout & Pion, 1990). Surveys focusing only on the number of ethnic minorities engaged in clinical psychology practice have suggested a representation of between 2% and 5.1% (Hammond, 1988a(Hammond, , 1988b Office of Comprehensive Health Planning, 1989;Stapp, Tucker, & VandenBos, 1985).Data on recently awarded doctorates indicate some progress in improving equitable participation in psychology training programs. Figures from the National Research Council (1988) indicate that 11.4% of clinical psychology doctorates awarded went to ethnic minorities. However, this was less than the percentage of doctorates awarded to minorities in all science and engineering fields (12.1%), in all social science fields (12.7%), in education (14.7%), in business (15.4%), and in the total for all fields (13.8%). Further, demographic projections indicate that by the year 2000 ethnic minorities will constitute about one third of the nation's population (American Council on Education, 1988). Thus, to achieve a more appropriate representation, graduation rates of ethnic minority students would need to triple from their present level.According to current enrollment patterns in clinical psychology training programs, this cannot be expected to happen without significant new efforts to attract, enroll, retain, and graduate substantially larger numbers of minority students. In a recent survey of graduate programs in psychology, the enrollment of minority students in all clinical and other health provider subfields was slightly more then 10% at the doctoral level (Pion, Kohout, & Wickerski, 1989). Schools of professional psychology are a growing source for production of clinical practi-This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

Prospective minority students' perceptions of application packets for professional psychology programs: A qualitative study.

“…The study's need was grounded in the psychology's profession's strong call to address minority student underrepresentation in professional psychology (see Hammond & Yung, 1993;Sue et al, 1992). The methodology chosen to address this need was qualitative in nature, in stark contrast to the preponderance of quantitatively based surveys that dominate the minority-student literature (see review in Ponterotto & Casas, 1991).…”

“…Evidence suggests, however, that on the national level, psychology programs have met with only minimal success in attracting racial-ethnic minority students and scholars. Ponterotto and Casas (1991) reported that although roughly 25% of the U.S. population is composed of racial-ethnic minority individuals (namely, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, AsianAmerican/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians), only 11% of fulltime doctoral students in psychology and 5% of full-time faculty represent racial-ethnic minority groups (see also Hammond & Yung, 1993).…”

“…The survey found that 43% of the responding programs incorporated this recruitment strategy. In reviewing the results of their comprehensive survey, Hammond and Yung (1993) noted that "many of the professional schools are using a variety of strategies to promote greater minority participation in their training programs. However, their limited success in terms of ethnic minority student enrollment indicates that much more vigorous and diverse strategies are needed" (p. 10).…”

“…More recently, Hammond and Yung (1993) surveyed recruitment and retention strategies used by 35 member schools of the National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology. The survey used a checklist format and was completed by "key administrators" at the 35 schools.…”

“…One limitation of these studies, however, is their reliance on administrators for program information. For example, in the Hammond and Yung (1993) checklist survey, what guarantee is there that the administrators provided accurate and reliable information? Although it can be assumed that the checklists were completed in good faith, surveys on "politically correct" topics are not without limitation (Ponterotto & Casas, 1991).…”