Department of Health Policy and Management, The Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
J Rural Health. 2019 Jan;35(1):35-41. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12299. Epub 2018 Apr 17.
To examine trends in the psychologist workforce and training opportunities, including factors that may influence the decision of clinical psychologists to practice in rural settings.
We use a mixed-methods approach to examine the psychologist workforce nationally and in North Carolina (NC), including (1) an analysis of the location of programs awarding doctoral degrees; (2) an analysis of the practice, demographic, and educational characteristics of the psychologist workforce; and (3) interviews with directors of doctoral programs in clinical psychology to understand where current graduates are getting jobs and why they may or may not be choosing to practice in rural communities.
Fewer than 1% of programs and institutions awarding doctoral degrees in psychology in the United States are located in rural areas. In NC, approximately 80% of practicing psychologists have out-of-state degrees and about 80% of recent NC graduates are not currently licensed in the state. This juxtaposition undermines the utility of adding more in-state degree programs. While expansion of training programs within rural areas could help alleviate the shortages of mental health providers, adding new degree-granting programs alone will not necessarily increase supply. We discuss complementary recruitment and retention strategies, including greater incentives for rural training and practice as well as training in emerging technologies that don't require providers to be physically located in underserved areas, such as telemedicine.
Increasing the supply of psychologists practicing in rural areas will require a thoughtful, multipronged approach to training this critical part of the behavioral health workforce.
考察心理学家的劳动力和培训机会的趋势，包括可能影响临床心理学家在农村地区执业的决策的因素。
我们采用混合方法研究全国和北卡罗来纳州（NC）的心理学家劳动力，包括：（1）分析授予博士学位的项目所在地；（2）分析心理学家劳动力的实践、人口统计学和教育特征；（3）采访临床心理学博士项目主任，以了解当前毕业生的就业去向以及他们为何可能或可能不会选择在农村社区执业。
在美国，获得心理学博士学位的项目和机构中，不到 1%位于农村地区。在 NC，大约 80%的执业心理学家拥有州外学位，大约 80%的最近 NC 毕业生目前未在该州获得执照。这种并列关系削弱了增加更多州内学位项目的效用。虽然在农村地区扩大培训项目可以帮助缓解心理健康提供者的短缺，但仅增加新的授予学位的项目不一定会增加供应。我们讨论了补充招聘和保留策略，包括为农村培训和实践提供更大的激励，以及培训新兴技术，这些技术不需要提供者在服务不足的地区进行物理存在，例如远程医疗。
增加在农村地区执业的心理学家的供应将需要一个深思熟虑的、多管齐下的方法来培训这一关键的行为健康劳动力。
