Josephine Paparo

Practice pointsHealth Professional Educators (HPEs) assume a range of complex and competing roles in their work with students, which can impact their wellbeing.Understanding from an interdisciplina...

Psychology internships are the bedrock of training for psychologists. However, little is known from the perspective of psychology interns regarding how internship experiences shape outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the dynamic interplay between internship-related factors, overall internship satisfaction, and perceived professional competence for psychology interns. Participants (N = 122) completing or having completed a psychology internship via the 5 + 1 internship pathway to registration as a psychologist in Australia undertook an online questionnaire. Participants who perceived internship providers as prioritising their learning needs over the needs of the service/business reported greater internship satisfaction. Supervision quality was also related to internship satisfaction. This was especially the case for those reporting financial strain. An iterative data analytic process revealed that for current interns only, a positive link between supervision quality and perceived sense of professional competence was fully mediated by internship satisfaction, and was strongest for those experiencing financial strain. Collectively, these findings highlight the protective role good quality supervision and internship programs can play in supporting psychology interns, including those from potentially vulnerable subgroups, and presents a call to action for improved education, training, and accountability for internship providers to safeguard the future of the psychology workforce.

Professional psychology postgraduate education programs support the development of skills and competencies in psychology trainees, while also ensuring the safety of the communities they treat (Aust...

Objectives: The accommodation of symptoms of obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) by loved ones is highly prevalent and impactful on treatment outcomes; however, little is known about factors that influence accommodation by romantic partners of OCD sufferers. The aim of this preliminary investigation was to explore such correlates. Methods: A community sample of 50 patients self‐identifying with OCD ( M _age = 29.3; SD = 9.3; 74% female) and 20 individuals self‐identifying as the partner of someone with OCD ( M _age = 32.1; SD = 12.4; 65% female) participated in this study via an online questionnaire. Results: Associations were found between partner accommodation of OCD and a range of obsessions and compulsions across the patient and partner samples, as well as patient‐reported symptom severity, functional impairment and negative emotion states. Neuroticism was also positively associated with partner accommodation in the patient sample but did not contribute to its prediction over and above other known correlates of family accommodation. In the partner sample, extraversion was found to be a unique negative correlate of partner accommodation. Conclusions: These findings highlight the vital role both patient and partner factors play in the accommodation of OCD behaviours by romantic partners and the importance of involving loved ones in the treatment of individuals with OCD.