Development and evaluation of a national careers in aging webinar series for psychology trainees

ABSTRACT

Trainees may be interested in careers in aging but unfamiliar with career options, leading to a shortage in the geriatric workforce. In response to needs identified at a national geropsychology training conference, a multisite faculty group developed a six-session webinar series about careers in geropsychology, detailing career options in six unique settings. Each webinar session featured a moderated discussion with a panel of four professionals currently employed in the career of interest. The webinar was advertised to clinical and counseling psychology trainees with a potential interest in age-related careers, with evaluation of the series primarily including trainees from graduate programs, clinical internships, and postdoctoral fellowships. Participants rated their attitudes and beliefs about each career option at pre- and post-discussion. On average, each webinar session was attended by 48 individuals (SD = 12, range = 33–60). At baseline, attendees reported significantly more interest in careers in clinical practice compared to other careers, and interest in university settings increased from pre- to post-discussion. Across all six sessions, participants reported increased understanding of training experiences that would be helpful in pursuing that specific career. Findings point to the feasibility and utility of webinars for enhancing interest and confidence in pursuing careers in aging.

KEYWORDS:

• careers
• education
• professional development
• training
• workforce development

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the APA Committee on Aging for providing feedback on the webinar series. We would also like student leaders from the Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs, Society of Clinical Geropsychology, Psychologists in Long Term Care for their input on the series and on the method of evaluation. We extend immense gratitude to the Building Bridges Conference planning committee and working group leaders for their support and input on this project. Lastly, we would like to thank the webinar panelists, without whom this series would not have been possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2023.2218819

Notes

1. We did not ask participants to self-report any demographic characteristics, including level of training. However, participants were asked to self-describe their current role in their Zoom name displayed on the screen. Thus, we have anecdotal information based on participants’ labels about level of training and current role.

Additional information

Funding

This project was generously supported by the CoPGTP 2021 Program Evaluation Award in Geropsychology Training. MM is supported by T32 CA00946 and P30 CA008748. This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the VA Boston Healthcare System. The contents do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.