Self-care among Clinical Psychology Doctoral Students
The past decade has seen notable growth in the focus on the need for self-care among clinical psychologists (e.g., Barnett & Cooper, 2009), with an increasing emphasis on self-care as a proactive, prevention-oriented process. This movement has also emphasized the need for self-care among graduate trainees in the field, who face multiple challenges related to their roles as students and as developing clinicians. In fact, some researchers have made a “call to action” for graduate training programs to increase their focus on self-care (Bamonti et al., 2014). However, comprehensive research on self-care practices among psychology graduate students, as well as predictors and outcomes of self-care, remains limited at present.
Our recent survey of graduate students in clinical psychology doctoral programs (Zahniser, Rupert & Dorociak, 2017) provided support for the value of self-care for graduate students and suggested that program culture was important for promoting self-care. We are currently preparing to launch a follow-up survey of Graduate Program Directors to gather data about specific ways in which programs are supporting graduate student self-care and developing self-care competencies.
Our recent survey of graduate students in clinical psychology doctoral programs (Zahniser, Rupert & Dorociak, 2017) provided support for the value of self-care for graduate students and suggested that program culture was important for promoting self-care. We are currently preparing to launch a follow-up survey of Graduate Program Directors to gather data about specific ways in which programs are supporting graduate student self-care and developing self-care competencies.
