Smartphone Application in Postgraduate Clinical Psychology Training: Trainees’ Perspectives

Abstract

M-learning refers to the learning that takes advantage of mobile technologies. Although research shows enhanced educational outcomes from m-learning in some Asian countries, the generalizability to postgraduate clinical psychology training in Singapore remains unclear. Current professional standards in clinical psychology training emphasize the importance of attainment of clinical competencies in trainees. Although learning theories indicated potential for m-learning to be incorporated into the local clinical psychology curriculum, trainees’ perspectives have not been adequately explored on m-learning. The study aimed to address this gap by exploring the use of m-learning via a novel smartphone application in clinical psychology training using mixed-methods design. Eight clinical psychology trainees between the ages of 26 to 43 years old (mean age of 31.75, SD = 5.49) enrolled in a relevant coursework subject were recruited. Participants were randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group accessed the novel application weekly, from week 1 to week 6, and participants in the control group accessed the application after week 6. Participants from both groups completed a brief demographic questionnaire, and the following scales New General Self-Efficacy Scale adapted for Education (NGSES-E) and self-reported scale of learning outcomes (SLO). The qualitative study explored how participants perceived and experienced the novel application. Participants from the experimental group were invited to provide open-ended responses about the novel application. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results from the qualitative analysis yielded four themes of: Convenience, preferred learning style, building confidence, and putting theory into practice. Findings from the qualitative study were consistent with previous studies about advantages of m-learning: That the e-platform was convenient, the learning style was engaging, which helped to build confidence, and facilitate practical learning of skills. The qualitative results were helpful in understanding the users’ perspectives and experience of the novel application, indicating that future research in this innovative area is necessary. However, the quantitative outcomes were not significant, limitations would be discussed, and recommendations made for future research.

A Smartphone App for Attentional Bias Retraining in Smokers: Mixed Methods Pilot Study

“…There were 4 Chinese, 4 Malay, and 2 Indian participants. As this was the first study of its kind on a novel smartphone smoking app in the local context, the sample size was kept small, similar to a previous local-level study using a mixed methods design [ 41 ].…”

“…Similar to previous research [ 41 ], phase 1 involved the quantitative pilot trial, whereby 10 participants were randomly assigned to two groups—a training group (group 1) and a control group (group 2). Participants in the training group were informed about their allocation to group 1 and were asked to access the novel smartphone app in weeks 1, 2, and 3 of the study.…”

“…Similar to previous research [ 41 ], phase 2 involved the qualitative process, whereby all 10 participants from both the training group (P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5) and control group (P6, P7, P8, P9, and P10) were invited to a semistructured interview after week 3. All participants were asked to describe their views and experience of the novel app, discuss specific areas that could be problematic, and provide their recommendations.…”

“…Similar to previous research [ 41 ], in this pilot study, we investigated attentional bias retraining delivered via the novel smartphone app by quantitatively analyzing the attentional bias to smoking cues, subjective craving of smoking, and smoking frequency of current adult smokers who did and did not undertake attentional bias retraining. It was hypothesized that participants who did and did not undertake attentional bias retraining via the novel smartphone app would differ in their attentional bias, subjective craving, and smoking frequency.…”

“…This study aims to address this gap in the literature. As recommended by previous research [ 41 ], the employment of a mixed methods study design will be useful in exploring the impact of the novel smartphone app. A mixed methods approach in this study entails the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods [ 42 ], with the overall objective of exploring the perspectives and experiences of the novel smartphone app, as well as to evaluate the outcomes of attentional bias retraining.…”