Counseling psychologists in medical education in the United States: career development, professional identity, and training implications

ABSTRACT

Psychologists have been working in medical education for over 100 years and the number of psychologists in these settings is increasing, yet the involvement of counseling psychologists in medical education remains largely undocumented. This qualitative study utilized Consensual Qualitative Research Methodology to analyze the career development, work experiences, and professional identity of 10 counseling psychologists currently working in the field of medical education in the United States. The five domains that emerged from the data were: (1) career path, (2) adaptation of one’s professional identity into medical education, (3) complimentary aspects of counseling psychology and medical education, (4) challenges of working as a counseling psychologist in medical education, and (5) training implications. Results indicated the potentially unique contributions counseling psychologists can make in American medical education teaching, training and supervision, behavioral health interventions, and culturally sensitive healthcare. Challenges included establishing legitimacy as they navigated the medical hierarchy. Implications for practice and training related to interprofessional settings are presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Counseling psychology
• medical education
• training
• professional issues
• consensual qualitative research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Trisha L. Raque-Bogdan

Trisha L. Raque-Bogdan received her PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Maryland, and is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology at the University of Denver Morgridge College of Education.  Her scholarly interests include positive health psychology and career development, with a specific focus on cancer survivorship, self-compassion, social well-being, and qualitative methodologies.

Julia L. Ratchford

Julia L. Ratchford is a doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology department at the University of Denver.  Her research includes the topics of culturally sensitive integrated health care.

Patton O. Garriott

Patton O. Garriott received his PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri, and currently is an Associate Professor in Counseling Psychology at the University of Denver Morgridge College of Education.  His primary areas of research include the career development and academic interests of students underrepresented in higher education and multicultural issues in vocational psychology.

Nicole J. Borges

Nicole J. Borges received her PhD in Counseling Psychology from Indiana State University, and is now a Professor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.  She has worked in medical education for over 20 years, and has more than 85 publications on the topics of personality and medical specialty choice, physician career development, noncognitive factors contributing to student success, team-based learning, medical education, and health topics related to medical education.  She is a Fellow of the Society of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

Ryan D. Duffy

Ryan D. Duffy received his PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Maryland, and is a Professor at the University of Florida.  He has published more than 100 articles, including work on career calling and the Psychology of Working Theory.  He is a Fellow of the Society of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association.