Factors associated with choosing a career in clinical psychology—undergraduate minority ethnic perspectives

Abstract

Concerns have been expressed by clinical psychologists about the preponderance of white members of the profession. While studies of minority ethnic recruitment into health professions and entry into higher education have been conducted at undergraduate level, the extent to which their results can be mapped on to issues of minority ethnic choosing of postgraduate training in clinical psychology is unknown. The aim of this study is to investigate the attraction or otherwise of professional clinical psychology to potential minority ethnic applicants. Q methodology was used to identify patterns of incentives and disincentives within a series of statements about the profession and its academic subject matter. Thirty‐seven UK minority ethnic undergraduate psychology students completed Q‐sort ratings. Along with narrative descriptions of seven factors derived from analysis of the data, we present three overall categories. Q‐sort data are by design defined by positive and negative aspects, and our interpretations indicate a mixture of overall attraction in all three categories. These patterns of thinking extend what was known from previous research, and explicate something of the complexity of participants' views of clinical psychology. Within the constraints of the study's limitations, we view them as a small contribution towards an empirically based understanding of factors influential in the recruitment of an ethnically more representative workforce. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Women Entering Clinical Psychology: Q‐Sort Narratives of Career Attraction of Female Clinical Psychology Trainees in the UK

“…The first story concerns a theme of intrinsic and taken‐for‐granted value ascribed to the activity of the profession, and may be approximated as follows: participants rate clinical psychology as positively engaging, because they view it as socially relevant and as intellectually challenging. This is scarcely novel, being similar to what most qualified colleagues would anticipate, and it confirms part of our previous data from samples of male trainees (Baker & Caswell, ) and minority ethnic psychology undergraduates (Meredith & Baker, ). It also recapitulates for the most part, the issues presented in a UK clinical psychology recruitment video (CHPCCP/DCP, ), and we chose the phrase ‘making a difference’ to echo this point in the title of factor 1, which most clearly presents the theme.…”

Clinical Psychology and Diversity: Progress and Continuing Challenges

“…Indeed, since the publication of the BPS report in 2004, various research projects have been published about how psychology is perceived within different cultures. Meredith and Baker (2007) used Q-sort methodology to look at incentives and disincentives for people from BME communities. Amongst the negatives were again the difficulty in accessing courses, the length of time for the training, uncertainty about a paid career path early on, potential racism, eurocentric vs ethnocentric views of psychology, and a lack of family support.…”

The Applicability of a Seminal Professional Development Theory to Creative Arts Therapies Students

“…Scholars of healthcare disciplines are demonstrating a growing interest in better understanding student professional development (PD) during graduate training. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies are increasingly implemented in order to shed light on students' in‐training experience that, in turn, may inform curricula design, supervision and field training policies, as well as guidelines for preparing student transition into the ‘real world’ upon graduation (Orlinsky, Rønnestad, & Ambühl, ; Howard, Inman, & Altman, ; Meredith & Baker, ; Sutherland, Howard, & Markauskaite, ; Carlsson, Norberg, Sandell, & Schubert, ; Klein, Bernard, & Schermer, ; Rihacek, Danelova, & Cermak, ).…”