An Exploration of the Experiences of Culturally and/or Linguistically Diverse Trainee Psychologists in Australian Postgraduate Programs

Abstract

Objective The study explored the experiences of trainee psychologists from a culturally and/or linguistically diverse (CALD) background in Australia. Although previous studies have documented the experiences of CALD trainees in the USA and UK, few studies have explored this issue in Australia. Findings from other countries may aid understanding, but could not be assumed to apply in Australia. The current study aimed to address this gap and explore what facilitated or hindered CALD trainee psychologists’ progress during their training and to provide recommendations. Method Fourteen CALD trainee psychologists, undertaking Clinical or Education and Developmental postgraduate training from four universities in southeast Queensland, attended an individual, semi‐structured interview. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the emerging themes across interviews. Results Nine themes were generated, including cultural challenges, lack of acknowledgment and support from the training staff, effective supervision, strengths of a CALD trainee psychologist, language and communication challenges, limited training/understanding of issues about CALD clients, uniform approach of training, peer interactions: pleasant or unpleasant, and coping strategies. Conclusions Findings provided not only an account of challenges CALD trainees encountered but also their strengths. CALD trainee psychologists faced extra difficulties and there is a need for increased awareness among trainers. Recommendations for trainers to increase facilitation and reduce hindrance to CALD trainees’ training were provided.

International Psychology Students Use Multiple Strengths to Enhance Their Learning and Performance on Work Placements

“…Ng () described how international students might bring different perspectives to counselling—we demonstrated the breadth of placement settings, across multiple areas of psychological practice, and the multiple ways that international psychology students used their intercultural skills to benefit clients and organisations, as well as their peers. Our findings were also similar to those of Ho (), who studied culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) psychology students on placement. Ho found that CALD students also talked about being mindful and flexible, as well as having specific skills for working with CALD clients.…”

What is known about the types of supports used by culturally and linguistically diverse students and their professional placement educators that facilitate successful learning experiences: A scoping review

“…Mentor from similar background e.g., employer, higher year level international student Ho & O'Donovan, 2018) Cross-culture mentor program e.g., with domestic non-CALD student (Goodwin & Mbah, 2019;Scherer et al, 2019) Small group support e.g., debriefing/hearing about other CALD students' experiences (Dlamini & Martinovic, 2007;Jackson, 2017) Collaborating learning by having peer interactions e.g., peer placements, peer review of cases, peer interactions in workshops (Dressel et al, 2007) Supportive Supervisor Placement educator Characteristics e.g., approachable (Lalor et al, 2019), encouraging (Brice & Kosta, 1998), patient (Ho & O'Donovan, 2018), motivated (Pitkajarvi, Eriksson, Kekki et al, 2012) and interested in students' lives and backgrounds (Havery, 2019) Learn how to pronounce students' names (Bolderston et al, 2008) Open communication e.g., allow questions, provide clarification (Bolderston et al, 2008) Regular contact with student (Ortlipp & Nuttall, 2011; Advocate for student to where cultural biases occur e.g., system wide or with clients/patients' assumptions (Mori et al, 2009) Time for educator to supervise e.g., reduce workload (Pitkajarvi, Eriksson, Kekki et al, 2012;Spooner-Lane et al, 2009)…”

“…Normalise and affirm the presence of international students when working with workplaces Screen educators for cultural responsiveness (Ho & O'Donovan, 2018) and allocate to motivated educators (Pitkajarvi et al, 2012) Consider strengths and weaknesses of student (Goodwin & Mbah, 2019;Jackson, 2017;Jones et al, 2017) Student selected placement (Pitkajarvi et al, Cultural mentoring e.g., helping students to understand culture of workplace, clients, other students (Buckworth et al, 2015;Dressel et al, 2007) Be culturally sensitive, culturally aware and consider acculturation affecting performance and learning (Barton et al, 2015;Scherer et al, 2019) Avoid/explain colloquialisms, jargon and culture-based idioms (Bolderston et al, 2008;Hagqvist et al, 2020) Facilitate students interacting with each other on placement (Attrill et al, 2016b;Woodward-Kron et al, 2007…”