Gould Christine E, Gregg Jeffrey J, Rodriguez Rachel L, Mehta Priyanka S, Kramer B Josea
VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Services, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Prof Psychol Res Pr. 2025 Jun 30;2025. doi: 10.1037/pro0000637.
The current workforce lacks enough trained psychologists specializing in geriatric mental health (i.e., geropsychologists) to meet the population's needs. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Geriatric Scholars Program-Psychology Track (GSP-P) targets this gap by providing intensive post-licensure training to enhance geropsychology skills and competencies. Further professional development is offered through an advanced workshop that includes structured independent learning plans (ILPs) with subject matter expert consultation over a 6-month period. To evaluate the program, we conducted a survey that included closed-ended questions for perceptions of learning on a 5-point Likert type scale and open-ended questions to characterize the perception of the ILP experience, local challenges and solutions, and impact on the population level. The response rate was 78.9% among 19 scholars. Scholars strongly agreed that participation in the ILPs improved their geropsychology knowledge ( = 4.8 of 5/strongly agreed) and skills ( = 4.5 of 5). Content analysis of activities completed and challenges was conducted. A rapid thematic analytic approach guided by the Kirkpatrick (2016) learning evaluation model was used to analyze scholars' responses to open-ended prompts. Qualitative findings confirmed a positive reaction to learning, acquisition of new knowledge, skills and competencies, which led to practice change that, in turn, had a positive impact on VHA organizational goals. After completing the ILP, scholars described their commitment to continue and grow in geropsychology training, which suggests that the GSP-P model, with mentored independent learning for continuing professional development, might be expanded within VHA and exported to other healthcare settings.
目前的劳动力队伍中缺乏足够多受过训练的专门从事老年心理健康的心理学家（即老年心理学家）来满足民众的需求。退伍军人健康管理局（VHA）老年学者计划——心理学方向（GSP-P）旨在填补这一空白，通过提供强化的执照后培训来提高老年心理学技能和能力。通过一个高级研讨会提供进一步的专业发展，该研讨会包括结构化的独立学习计划（ILP），并在6个月的时间里有主题专家提供咨询。为了评估该计划，我们进行了一项调查，其中包括关于学习认知的封闭式问题（采用5点李克特量表）以及开放式问题，以描述对ILP体验、当地挑战与解决方案以及对民众层面影响的认知。19位学者的回应率为78.9%。学者们强烈同意参与ILP提高了他们的老年心理学知识（5分制中平均分为4.8/强烈同意）和技能（5分制中平均分为4.5）。我们对完成的活动和挑战进行了内容分析。采用了由柯克帕特里克（2016年）学习评估模型指导的快速主题分析方法来分析学者对开放式问题的回答。定性研究结果证实了对学习、新知识、技能和能力获取的积极反应，这导致了实践的改变，进而对VHA的组织目标产生了积极影响。完成ILP后，学者们表示致力于在老年心理学培训中继续学习并不断成长，这表明GSP-P模式，即通过有指导的独立学习实现持续专业发展，可能会在VHA内部得到扩展并推广到其他医疗环境中。
