Learning styles as predictors of self-efficacy and interest in research: Implications for graduate research training.

The literature on research training in professional psychology has yet to address the role of student learning styles on training outcomes. A mail survey of graduate students (N = 132) in professional areas of psychology from 11 universities assessed four dimensions of learning styles, research interest, and research self-efficacy. Students with more active (vs. reflective) and more intuitive (vs. sensing) learning styles reported greater research self-efficacy, and students with more intuitive (vs. sensing) and more verbal (vs. visual) learning styles reported greater research interest. The authors discuss implications for improving graduate research training by encouraging student self-assessment and by providing instruction using balanced pedagogies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Next generation: A mentoring program for black female psychologists.

Black women remain grossly underrepresented in academic psychology departments at major American universities. With better representation, their intellectual contributions to research, practice, and education in the discipline could significantly expand the margins of the field. Given the positive effect of Black faculty on priming the pipeline of graduate students, increasing the number of Black faculty would likely improve the recruitment and retention of Black graduate students. A pilot mentoring group designed specifically for Black female psychologists with a commitment to academic research careers provided significant beneficial experiences and demonstrated good success in the desired direction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The graduate research training environment in professional psychology: A multilevel investigation.

Very little program-level research on psychology graduate research training environments (RTEs) exists despite the RTE being a program-level (vs. student-level) construct. In the current study, the authors investigated correlates of programs' RTEs, including characteristics of the students, the faculty, and the programs themselves. Proportional stratified sampling of American Psychological Association-accredited PhD programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology yielded data from 40 programs. Students and faculty in those programs completed Internet questionnaires, and additional faculty and program characteristics were coded. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that programs with positive student-rated RTEs had faculty who also viewed the RTE as positive and had satisfying faculty–student relations. These programs also had students with higher levels of research interest and stronger advisory alliances, yet within-program student differences in the RTE explained more variance in these student characteristics than did between-programs differences. This research supports the value of examining the RTE at both the student and program levels, and it suggests that training interventions ought to occur at both levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics and perceptions of beginning doctoral students in school psychology.

A national sample of 251 1st- and 2nd-yr doctoral students in school psychology responded to a questionnaire measuring demographic characteristics, preferences among applied specialties in professional psychology, graduate program applications, anticipated internship setting, preferred client population, personal interests, professional goals, and satisfaction with current training. Survey responses showed a clear preference for working directly with children and adolescents following graduation, a high degree of correspondence between training program emphases and student interests and goals, and a moderate degree of student satisfaction with training experiences. Results are interpreted with respect to training trends and standards in school psychology, the relationship between school and clinical psychology, satisfaction of students in clinical and counseling psychology programs, and methodology limitations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An exploratory examination of the sexual intervention self-efficacy of clinical psychology graduate students.

The current study investigated clinical psychology graduate students' self-efficacy regarding addressing clients' sexual concerns and problems. Students with more sexually liberal attitudes had higher self-efficacy beliefs. Sexuality-specific training experiences but not sexual attitudes or anxiety predicted the amount of sex therapy experience gained during graduate school. Students with more didactic education related to sexuality, more sex therapy experience, and more experience observing a clinician conducting sex therapy, had stronger sexual intervention self-efficacy beliefs. These educational experiences contributed to students' self-efficacy over and above general psychology training. The results speak to the importance of direct training to deal with clients' sexual concerns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and initial validation of the Multicultural Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale--Racial Diversity Form.

Drawing upon social-cognitive theory and the multicultural counseling competency literature, the Multicultural Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale-Racial Diversity Form (MCSE-RD) was developed to assess perceived ability to counsel racially diverse clients. Data were collected from 181 graduate students in counseling-related programs, 41 undergraduate psychology students, and 22 graduate students enrolled in a prepracticum course. Results of an exploratory factor analysis retained 37 items and identified three underlying factors: Multicultural Intervention, Multicultural Assessment, and Multicultural Session Management. MCSE-RD subscale and total scores produced adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability estimates. Initial validity findings indicated theory-consistent relations of MCSE-RD scores with general counseling self-efficacy, multicultural counseling competency, social desirability, therapist demographics, and educational/training variables. Participation in prepracticum was associated with positive change in MCSE-RD scores. Implications for training and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The graduate advising relationship in Canadian psychology programmes: Advisee perspectives.

The graduate advising relationship is generally considered to be a critical aspect of graduate student development. This is due, in part, to the highly involved and interactive nature of the relationship; graduate advisors assume responsibility for guiding their advisees in successful completion of several degree requirements, including theses/dissertations, coursework, and applied work. Despite the significance of this relationship, research on graduate advising across Canadian psychology programmes remains limited. The current study assessed Canadian psychology graduate students (n = 387) from clinical, experimental, counselling, and education programmes using an online questionnaire regarding students' perceptions of their advisory relationship and the advising they received in specific training areas. Overall, advising in self-care and work-life balance was the greatest predictor of perceived quality of the advisory relationship for clinical students, research design for experimental students, and clinical work for counselling students, respectively. Implications for training and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Doctoral candidates' attitudes toward models of professional training.

Administered a questionnaire to 226 clinical graduate students from scientist-professional programs (SPP) and 223 graduate students from professional school programs (PSP) to assess attitudes toward their current training program's curriculum. Findings show that 85% of PSP and 70% of SPP Ss expressed positive attitudes. When divided into those aspiring to applied practice, research, and combined applied/research careers, 67% of SPP Ss who aspired to applied practice careers (28% of this sample) expressed preference for a professional school training model. In contrast, two-thirds or more of PSP Ss in all career-aspiration categories expressed a preference to remain in their existing programs. Findings were consistent across age, sex, entry degree, and internship experience. Results are discussed in relation to Vail Conference recommendations and forces that shape psychology graduate curricula. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problems of service and research in psychology department clinics.

Contends that the training clinic is optimally positioned to facilitate the integration of science and practice in the careers of clinical psychologists and that to achieve this goal some adjustments in procedures may be needed. A review of data provided by 59 former Psychological Service Center (University of Massachusetts—Amherst) patients, 23 clinical psychology graduate students, and 43 clinic directors reveals some problems that training clinics face in the areas of service and research. Service problems are related to client data, termination reasons, limitations of treatment by a trainee, and homogeneity of clients; and research problems include attitude research in the training clinic, data from surveys of graduate students and clinic directors, and reducing obstacles and changing attitudes about research. Some solutions that have been attempted at the University of Massachusetts are reported, and recommendations are made to other clinics that are struggling to maintain high standards of service and to facilitate research while attending concomitantly to the training needs of their clinical students. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypothesis-testing and hypothesis-producing research.

The "primary function served by thesis research is training." Two kinds of research design can be discerned which might be termed: (a) hypothesis testing and (b) hypothesis producing. "The first type is characterized by the testing of tightly formulated hypotheses, the acceptance or rejection of which has meaning in the content of psychology." "The second, and a more advanced stage, is the kind of research study which we think is more suitable for the Ph.D. degree: the hypothesis-producting study." "We believe that there is merit to the idea that graduate students in psychology be given an opportunity to carry out both types of research." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cross-cultural research methods in psychology.

Reviews the book, Cross-cultural research methods in psychology edited by David Matsumoto and Fons J. R. Van de Vijver (see record 2010-22491-000). The purpose of this book is to further the potential of cross-cultural psychology by helping researchers to understand the unique difficulties inherent in the field and the current methodologies used to advance quality research. Matsumoto and van de Vijver have compiled a comprehensive yet simply organized volume that speaks to the theoretical and analytic issues met by graduate students and advanced researchers alike. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The supervisee experience of group supervision: Implications for research and practice.

Group supervision is commonly employed in graduate psychology training but has received insufficient attention in research. Supervisees' own perceptions and experiences in group supervision can provide valuable information in guiding our understanding and exploration of the benefits and uses of this form of training. This paper reviews 11 empirical studies exploring supervisee perceptions of group supervision experiences. Research, to date, appears to be largely in line with conceptual hypotheses regarding the benefits of group supervision experiences, and implications are discussed with regard to current practice. However, this review also points to the need for more in-depth and advanced research efforts in the area that can further explore supervisee experiences and identify means of optimizing this experience as a component of clinical training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists and Hurricane Katrina: Natural disaster response through training, public education, and research.

The purpose of this article was to describe a model of clinical/disaster psychology and illustrate how one psychologist applied training in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The primary focus of the article relates to training graduate students of clinical psychology and assisting evacuees, public education and dissemination, and research. Psychologists may find themselves in similar positions when disasters occur in the future, and the linkage of research and theory with anecdotal accounts may provide mental health professionals with ideas regarding avenues of training to pursue and the various roles that may be served in times of disaster. Recommendations are offered to training programs with regard to infusing tenets of clinical/disaster psychology into their curriculum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The power of multiple methods and evidence sources: Raising the profile of Canadian counselling psychology research.

In counselling psychology, research and practice are viewed as mutually informative, and Canadian counselling psychologists conduct research in a wide range of areas, utilizing a wide range of research methods. However, there are few Canadian publications that give prominence to counselling psychology scholarly work. Over the past decade, two trends have become more prominent in the practice of counselling psychology: evidence-based practice and outcome-focused intervention. Traditionally, empirical evidence for the efficacy of practice interventions has come from randomized controlled trials. This fails to reflect the diversity of methods and practice that Canadian counselling psychologists utilize. To address this discrepancy, in this article we provide some alternate ways for obtaining empirical support for the predictive efficacy of counselling interventions. We conclude by addressing some challenges currently facing counselling psychologists in Canada (i.e., publication venues, funding for research, the connection between research and practice, preparation of students) and describing some ways for raising the profile of counselling psychology research and practice in Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The balance between clinical and research interests among Boulder Model graduate students.

We examined the career goals and scholarly productivity of 176 clinical psychology graduate students from sixteen PhD programs approved by the American Psychological Association. Students were surveyed by telephone (n?=?140) or (as a check for experimenter bias) mail (n?=?36). Program characteristics were also examined. The majority (71%) of the total sample had a predominantly clinical orientation, and these students intended to spend, on the average, four times as many hours on clinical work as on research. Research orientation covaried with program and adviser characteristics and declined with number of years in training. The possibility of integrating scientific research with clinical practice is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression symptoms in Canadian psychology graduate students: Do research productivity, funding, and the academic advisory relationship play a role?

Depression is one of the most common psychological disorders affecting university students (Rimmer, Halikas, & Schuckit, 1982; Vazquez & Blanco, 2008); however, undergraduate students have received the majority of the research focus. The limited research available on graduate students suggests they may also be vulnerable to developing depression (Eisenberg, Gollust, Golberstein, & Hefner, 2007). The current investigation provides initial data on depression symptoms in Canadian psychology graduate students. Participants included psychology graduate students from across Canada (N = 292; 87% women) who were currently enrolled in clinical, experimental, counselling, and educational programmes. Each of the participants completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) and measures of: funding, research productivity, hours worked, and their advisory relationship. A substantial proportion of students (33%) reported clinically significant symptoms of depression (CES-D > 16), with a significant minority reporting severe symptoms of depression and impairment. There were no differences in symptom reporting across programme type; however, results of regression analyses indicated that advisory relationship satisfaction and greater current weekly hours worked were significant predictors of depressive symptoms for students enrolled in experimental programmes. In contrast, depression symptoms were unrelated to funding, research productivity, hours worked, and advisory relationship satisfaction for students in all other programmes. Implications and future directions for research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional ethics for graduate students in psychology.

Results of 2 independent questionnaires concerning the availability of courses on ethics for graduate students in psychology sent to various schools offering graduate work in psychology are combined. "Very few departments offer a course solely on professional ethics in psychology though several expressed plans for one in the future." "Ethics is handled best on a graduate level, in a seminar or colloquium, preferably on a required basis for all students, and definitely so for clinical students." "The APA code of professional ethics and journals are preferred sources of reference." "Professional training in ethics is a recent phenomenon coinciding with the APA research in this area and with the rise of clinical psychology." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using qualitative research to strengthen clinical practice.

Does qualitative research have the potential to be useful to practitioners? How might it improve the practice of professional psychology for clients and for practitioners? This article describes the qualitative research paradigm, discusses how it can be adapted to clinical practice, and provides an example of a qualitative study that practitioners can easily accomplish. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sport psychology training within a clinical psychology program and a department of intercollegiate athletics.

Many applicants to clinical and counseling psychology programs are interested in receiving the training needed to practice competently in the professional specialty area of sport psychology. In this article, the authors describe a collaborative training and service relationship between an APA-accredited clinical psychology program and an intercollegiate athletics department. Sport Psychology Services provides performance enhancement, program evaluation, and mental health services to the athletic department. In return, graduate students receive applied training, financial support, and opportunities to conduct research. The authors present program evaluation data and offer practical guidelines to graduate programs wishing to establish similar training opportunities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)