A Framework for Creating a Climate of Transparency for Professional Performance Assessment: Fostering Student Investment in Gatekeeping

Graduate training during the COVID-19 pandemic: North American genetic counseling students' challenges, intolerance of uncertainty, and psychological well-being

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended genetic counseling (GC) graduate students' lives, as they have been forced to transition, manage, and acclimate to life during a pandemic. The current study is a first step in understanding their lived experiences during this historic, global event. We investigated academic and personal challenges, intolerance of uncertainty, and psychological well-being of GC students (n = 248) who trained during the pandemic (GC-COV cohort) and those who did not (GC-NoCOV cohort). Participants completed an online survey (July-September 2020) that used validated measures of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Psychological Well-Being. To assess the academic and personal challenges students experienced during GC graduate training, we developed a 43-item measure. Principal axis factoring of the items revealed categories of challenges related to the following: Academic & Professional Development, Self-Regulation & Resilience, Institutional & Program Leadership, and Financial Stability. There was no cohort difference in Psychological Well-Being. Linear mixed-effects modeling showed significant cohort differences in challenges. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that the GC-COV cohort's Psychological Well-Being was statistically significantly predicted by Institutional & Program Leadership challenges (p = .029), Self-Regulation & Resilience challenges (p = .013), and Intolerance of Uncertainty (p = .010). For the GC-NoCOV cohort, the statistically significant predictor of Psychological Well-Being was Self-Regulation & Resilience challenges (p = .029). Our findings demonstrate that GC students training during the COVID-19 pandemic have experienced various personal, academic, and psychological disruptions and highlight a need to develop resources and implement interventions supporting students' academic development and psychological well-being.

Knowledge Formation in Systemic Counselling Trainees from Germany: A Pilot Study from a Competence-Based Perspective

This pilot study has two areas of focus. It examines how the knowledge and competences of twelve Master’s-level systemic counselling trainees are connected, and how well their own assessment of their competence corresponds to external assessment. Methodologically, three instruments were used: first, an instrument to measure their explicit knowledge; second, videos of consultations with simulated clients to measure their competence in practice; third, a self-assessment measure to explore how externally assessed competence corresponds to self-assessment. The results show no indication that knowledge is related to externally assessed competence. Furthermore, their self-assessment did not show any systematic connection to the external assessment. The study concludes that the development of systemic counselling skills is a long-term process of theory acquisition, practise, and reflection. Important reflection processes can be stimulated by self-assessment. However, such assessments are not sufficient to capture the quality and scope of competence.