Health Service Psychology Doctoral Training During the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic: May 1st to June 25th, 2020

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) began its rapid spread around the world in December 2019. By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Stay-at-home orders and increases in U.S. infection rates had a profound impact on doctoral-level health service psychology (HSP) training beginning in the earliest stages of the pandemic. The present study examined the impact of COVID-19 on HSP students early in the pandemic using data from an online survey that was distributed to students from 179 doctoral programs affiliated with the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology and distributed by the Council for Chairs of Training Councils to doctoral-level HSP PsyD and PhD programs between May 1st and June 25th, 2020. This study identifies areas of education and training negatively impacted by the pandemic in its first few months, including training and instrumental support, specific training and support in telehealth, safety protections and considerations, and emotional support. Implications of, and recommendations for, addressing the concerns raised by students in these areas are discussed. By implementing these recommendations, training programs can help facilitate HSP students’ ability to meet continued training and professional development goals in the later stages of the pandemic.