Systemic Challenges in Internship Training for Health-Service Psychology: A Call to Action From Trainee Stakeholders
Roman Palitsky, Deanna M. Kaplan, Madeline Brodt, Mysia Anderson, Alison Athey, Jaime A. Coffino, Amy H. Egbert, Emily S. Hallowell, Guohui Han, M.-A. Hartmann, Cara Herbitter, M. Herrera Legon, Christopher D. Hughes, Nancy C. Jao, Michelle T. Kassel, Tian Le, Holly Frances Levin-Aspenson, Gabriela López, Meredith R. Maroney, Michael R. Medrano, S. J. Reznik, Megan L. Rogers, Brittany L. Stevenson
Abstract
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 paper written by 23 trainees across different sites and training specializations, the authors 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 longstanding dilemmas in HSP training that were exacerbated by the pandemic and will continue to require resolution after the pandemic has subsided. The authors 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.