Real Change or Performative Anti-Racism? Clinical Psychology Programs’ Efforts to Recruit and Retain BIPOC Scholars

ABSTRACT

Objective

This study assessed perceptions of Clinical Psychology doctoral programs’ efforts to recruit and retain faculty and graduate students of color, as well as differences in perceptions based on participants’ position within their program (i.e. graduate student versus faculty) and race.

Method

Participants (n = 297; 35% people of color; 79% female; mean age: 32) were graduate students and faculty from Clinical Psychology doctoral programs who completed an anonymous online survey about their programs’ efforts to recruit and retain graduate students and faculty of color; sense of belonging and perceptions of racial discrimination within programs; and experiences of cultural taxation and racism within programs.

Results

Faculty (n = 95) reported significantly greater perceptions of recruitment and retention efforts and fewer perceptions of racial discrimination than did graduate students (n = 202). Asian (n = 31), Black (n = 25), and Latinx (n = 35) participants reported significantly fewer perceptions of recruitment and retention efforts, less sense of belonging, and greater perceptions of racial discrimination than did White participants (n = 192). Cultural taxation was common among participants of color, and approximately half (47%) reported they have considered leaving academia – and approximately one third (31%) have considered leaving their program – due to experiences of racism in their program or field.

Conclusions

Cultural taxation and racial discrimination were common among scholars of color in this sample. Whether intentional or not, these experiences contribute to racially-toxic environments and negatively impact the racial diversity of the mental health workforce.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary Data

Supplemental material for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2023.2203930.

Notes

¹ All participants were asked whether they have witnessed racism in their program. Only participants of color were asked about personal experiences of racism and cultural taxation.

² BIPOC refers to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. While we used this term in survey items, we have elected to move toward a more inclusive language of “people of color” and thus do not use “BIPOC” in this report aside from referring to specific phrasing of survey items.

³ Due to space constraints, we provide tables for race subgroup analyses in text and for position subgroup analyses in an online supplement.