Growth during a global pandemic: A polyethnography among doctoral counselling psychology students.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to distill knowledge gained from the impact of COVID-19 on psychology clinical training and education at the graduate level. We explore our experiences as counselling psychology doctoral students who were completing practica when the pandemic occurred, and mental health services were adapting to rapidly changing circumstances. We employed a polyethnographic qualitative research design, informed by a developmental lens, to identify ourselves as the site of research and participate in a polyvocal and reflexive conversation. Subsequently, using thematic analysis to analyze our conversation, we traced how our growth was influenced during this unprecedented disruption in clinical training. Our conversation yielded seven themes and a related emerging conceptual representation that has implications for graduate training and education, with relevance to crisis situations. We position structured and ongoing relational support as a core process that helped us address both losses and disappointments while continuing to provide competent care to others. Public Significance StatementThis study highlights the impact of COVID-19 on doctoral student clinical training and education. The results suggest the importance of reflexivity, flexibility of practice, supervision, peer relationships, contingency planning, and the need for telehealth training to be incorporated into doctoral clinical practica, supervision, and education.

Exploring loss and grief during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review of qualitative studies

“…Students reflected concerns over ineffective learning environments due to a sudden transfer to virtual learning, where they were unable to retain information and connect with people. [57][58][59][60][61] Potential technological breakdowns led to time wastage waiting for system recovery, while being constantly online gave rise to worries about work-life balance. 58,60 The lack of physical teaching and supervision also led to the fear of their inability to complete course requirements.…”

“…58,60 The lack of physical teaching and supervision also led to the fear of their inability to complete course requirements. 58,60,61 Pregnant mothers Expectant mothers were fearful of catching COVID-19, especially near their delivery date, due to a lack of information about the birth and risk involved. [62][63][64][65][66][67] They also felt robbed of important life moments as they were unable to celebrate milestones, such as holding baby showers.…”

Lessons learnt from facilitating care home placements for counselling and psychotherapy students during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Importantly, their ability to learn effectively was informed by the dual‐space supervisory model utilised by the university. Well‐designed supervision promotes reflection (Pasyk et al, 2022) and, in this instance, it was crucial that students had these space(s) to deepen their understanding of their roles, responsibilities and acknowledge the accompanying emotionality resulting from their work.…”

Experiences of Graduate Students in Turkish Education During the Covid-19 Pandemic Process

“…According to the studies, students stated that distance education saves time and is economical, provides easy access to information and also to materials and lessons (M. F. Genç Genç et al, 2020;Ünal et al, 2021). In addition, studies revealed that students' independent learning skills were developed in the distance education process (Öztürk, 2021;Pasyk et al, 2021). Kör et al (2013) also found that the use of interactive materials such as animation, video and simulation in distance education lessons had a positive effect on success.…”