Date of Award

7-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Kathleen Gathercoal, PhD

Second Advisor

Mary Peterson, PhD

Abstract

Due to the new Standards of Accreditation (SoA) by the American Psychological Association (APA), implemented in 2017, there is minimal research to evaluate how proximal competency factors within clinical psychology programs relate to distal outcomes of alumni. This study consisted of 65 doctoral psychology graduates who completed an APA alumni survey 2 and 5 years after graduation. Findings showed strong positive relationships between faculty mentoring, foundational knowledge, program support and clinical training. Results showed proximal factors of faculty mentoring significantly predicted graduates would be employed as psychologists, while program support (peers and faculty) significantly predicted lifelong learning of alumni. Career success of alumni aligned with APA SoA’s expectations for post-graduate competencies, with most alumni practicing as psychologists. Moreover, results indicated a statistically significant relationship between lifelong learning and employment as a psychologist. Study results are useful for informing doctoral program development, as well as identifying what factors within a program predict alumni success, according to the APA SoA competency model.

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