Child Life Internship Readiness: Perspectives of Child Life Training Coordinators and Supervisors

Abstract

Certified Child Life Specialists serve an important role in the pediatric healthcare system providing psychosocial care for children and their families. While the child life profession continues to grow, the student-to-professional pipeline has not been researched. This mixed-methods study focuses on internship readiness from the clinical internship coordinators’ and supervisors’ perspectives to understand the child life intern selection process. Results indicate there are criteria that qualify and disqualify child life interns related to the internship candidates’ knowledge, skills, and abilities. Implications for this research include areas to improve access and decrease potential bias in the internship selection process as well as future research related to child life training.

“Being a Child Life Student Has Definitely Been Difficult”: A Mixed Methods Study Exploring the Experiences of Emerging Professionals

“…Furthermore, emerging professionals in the current study experienced difficulty managing stress and emotions, as well as financial burdens, as they pursued the profession. As shown in the current study and previous studies, stress can be related to completing the application (Reeves, 2019) or demonstrating in applications or interviews the traits clinical sites are looking for applicants to have including experience, developmental knowledge, and efficient communication skills (Sisk et al, 2023). Like previ-ous studies have shown, emerging professionals often look to social media for support and coping with the barriers to entering the profession (Hammond, 2021).…”

“…Qualitatively, participants detailed specific elements of their academic and clinical experiences that impacted their levels of engagement, motivation to pursue child life, and feelings of burnout -all of which can be mapped onto concrete organizational and institutional systems improvements previously suggested (Adelson et al, 2022;Hammond, 2021;Jenkins et al, 2023;Sisk et al, 2023). When participants have access to accurate, comprehensive information, knowledgeable and supportive academic mentors with clinical child life experience, an extensive network of peer and personal support, and opportunities to garner direct exposure to the child life field, they can thrive.…”

“…In the current moment, there are varied and often complex pathways to child life certification depending on access to and achievements in academic and community-based settings (Child Life Certification Commission, 2023). For some emerging professionals, financial resources have been a primary consideration in the pursuit of child life certification (Gourley et al, 2023;Hammond, 2021); whereas, the likely need to relocate for clinical training experiences may be a significant barrier for emerging professionals with family responsibilities and employment commitments (Sisk et al, 2023). Especially pertinent in today's context, the COVID-19 pandemic also presented difficulties for both practicing child life professionals (Jenkins et al, 2023) and emerging professionals by suspending or constraining clinical training and volunteer opportunities needed for certification eligibility.…”

“…Other areas of growth have been pre-clinical, with the implementation of a formal certification process and modifications to the eligibility criteria for obtaining certification (Child Life Certification Commission, 2022). Each alteration has affected all child life stakeholders, from students to clinical internship coordinators (Sisk et al, 2023), while also ushering in needed adaptations and improvements. Though Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS) often have an array of professional and organizational networks from which to seek support in times of transition, the same cannot yet be said for emerging child life professionals who are often, but not always, students.…”

Child Life Internship Readiness: Perspectives of Child Life Academics

“…Historically, child life has been seen as a competitive profession and students often spend multiple semesters waiting to receive an internship position. Reportedly, child life internship coordinators often receive 50 to 100 applications from prospective internship students each application round, but despite the large number of students enrolled in child life academic programs, some hospitals do not fill their open internship positions (Sisk et al, 2023). When obtaining an internship position is so difficult, these un-filled positions are especially concerning.…”