Self-reported comfort treating severe mental illnesses among pre-doctoral graduate students in clinical psychology

Abstract

Background: One possible explanation for the dearth of psychologists working in severe mental illness (SMI) areas is a lack of training opportunities. Recent studies have shown that while training opportunities have increased, there remain fewer resources available for SMI training compared to other disorders.

Aim: Examines whether students express discomfort working with this population and whether they are satisfied with their level of training in SMI.

Methods: One-hundred sixty-nine students currently enrolled in doctoral programs in clinical psychology in the United States and Canada were surveyed for their comfort treating and satisfaction with training related to a number of disorders.

Results: RESULTS indicate that students are significantly less comfortable treating and finding a referral for a patient with schizophrenia as well as dissatisfied with their current training in SMI and desirous of more training. Regression analyses showed that dissatisfaction with training predicted a desire for more training; however, discomfort in treating people with SMI did not predict a desire for more training in this sample. This pattern generally held across disorders.

Conclusions: Our results suggest general discomfort among students surveyed in treating SMI compared to other disorders.

Keywords: Severe mental illness; clinical training; graduate training; stigma.