Coping Dynamics of Consulting Psychology Doctoral Students Transitioning a Professional Role Identity: A Systems Psychodynamic Perspective

To remain relevant and valuable, the psychology profession in South Africa continues to transform and evolve in response to the changing needs of society. Some psychologists embark on development opportunities to advance their professional qualifications and skills. In doing so, they experience identity tensions inherent to professional identity development and transformation. Understanding how psychologists cope with professional identity transition will enable them to develop a self-efficacious service offering and broaden the reach of psychology in the South African context. The aim of this study was to explore the identity work of a group of eight consulting psychology doctoral students to develop a system psychodynamic understanding of their coping dynamics while transitioning to a professional role identity. Students’ self-reflective essays about becoming a consulting psychologist constituted the data protocols for the study and were analysed through hermeneutic phenomenological analysis. Findings describe how students cope with performance and survival anxieties through anti-task behaviour and immature as well as sophisticated psychodynamic defences. The study contributes to the exploration of the coping concept and its manifestation, by proposing defensive coping as a natural dynamic phenomenon in the process of adapting to a transforming professional identity.

Teaching Research Psychology in South Africa: reflections by programme coordinators

This article explores the experiences of Master’s programme coordinators in Research Psychology with the purpose of gaining an understanding of the planning and implementation of programmes that are directed at training Research Psychology students. The practical significance of the study was to investigate the course curricula of Research Psychology programmes within the South African context to grasp an understanding of the course structure and the challenges that accompany curriculum development. This article aims to elaborate on underlying tensions and considerations that programme coordinators encounter in structuring and implementing training for Master’s programmes that lead to registration with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Six of the eight programmes that lead to registration with the Health Professions Council of South Africa were included in this study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The reflections by the programme coordinators showed a shared pedagogical philosophy of active learning in which students are expected to take ownership of their learning and to participate actively in shaping and constructing the learning process. Reflections on the Research Psychology programmes revealed seven broad content areas concerned with the development of curricula in Research Psychology, namely applied research, ethics, foundational concepts and skills, language and report writing, and project management and micro-skills development within qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. Programme coordinators also expressed the tensions inherent in attempts to establish neutral ground between the demands of the discipline and the demands of the employers.

The relevance of the psychometrist category as a professional resource: Training-related issues

Orientation: The professional status of psychometrists places them in a position where they can provide a specialist function independently and their services should therefore be relevant to a variety of settings.Research purpose: The aim was to explore if the training of student psychometrists contributes to the relevance of this category in terms of the demographic profile of student psychometrists, the scope of services potentially provided by them and the content of training programmes.Motivation for the study: There is a paucity of research on training in the psychometrist category.Research design, approach and method: Data were obtained from the files of a cohort of student psychometrists who were registered in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Follow-up surveys on training and work contexts were conducted amongst these students and their in-practice supervisors to confirm and supplement the data. In addition, a survey on the national availability of training programmes for psychometrists was conducted at South African universities.Main findings: Gender and racial skewness in terms of the demographic profile of the UNISA students seemed to reflect a national trend. In terms of the scope of services, training opportunities and perceived job opportunities for psychometrists seemed limited and despite the utilisation of the skills area in all the applied contexts, concerns related to the sectors being served were identified. With regard to the content of the training programmes, students and in-practice supervisors expressed a need for greater preparation in test use before related practical experience takes place. The importance of the university’s involvement during the practicum was also emphasised.Practical/managerial implications: Recommendations are made regarding the structure and content of training programmes. This information could be applied in adapting existing programmes and in developing new programmes.Contribution/value-add: Ultimately, these recommendations could contribute to the value of the psychometrist category as a professional resource relevant to a variety of settings.

‘Market relevance’, ‘social relevance’, and psychology in South Africa

In light of the Psychological Society of South Africa’s commitment to ‘social relevance’, this article investigates the ongoing appeal for ‘relevance’ in the discipline. Pursuant to the social constructionist tenet regarding the constitutiveness of language, it examines addresses delivered at national Psychological Society of South Africa congresses since 1994. With Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for critical discourse analysis serving as its analytic frame, the article presents rhetorical, discursive, and socio-historical analyses of nine presidential, opening, and keynote addresses. Specifically, two competing discourses are identified: the first – a market discourse – advocates the development of a psychology that is financially rewarding, globally competitive, and internationally recognised. Accordingly, ‘market relevance’ is sought in which teaching, research, and community service outputs are graded according to international standards and priorities. The second discourse of civic responsibility casts South Africa’s traumatic past as unresolved and requiring, therefore, the intervention of psychologists. In this case, ‘social relevance’ is desired in order to bring about the emancipation of marginalised communities. On balance, however, it is the market discourse that saturates the discursive order. It is argued that South Africa’s re-entry into the international community has given rise to far-reaching changes to the country’s political, economic, and higher education landscapes, which have adjusted themselves to the demands of a globalised neo-liberal hegemony.