Date of Award
2022
Document Type
Doctoral Research Paper
Degree Name
Psy.D.
Department
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
First Advisor
Laurie Ivey, Psy.D.
Second Advisor
Laura Meyer, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Joey Tadie, Ph.D.
Keywords
Religion and spirituality, Psychology graduate training, Multicultural issues, Applied psychology of religion and spirituality
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
In a nationwide poll, 76% of the population of the United States identifies with a formal religion of some kind (Gallup Organization, 2021). Despite the prevalence of religion and spirituality (R/S) throughout the country, graduate programs appear to neglect training on this multicultural issue. The purpose of this paper is to better understand psychologists’ attitudes toward the quality and depth of their graduate training in R/S, determine how competent psychologists feel at managing discussions of R/S within psychotherapy, and recommend necessary improvements to graduate training in R/S. Data was collected using a 24-item, online survey, which was circulated throughout college newsletters and which used snowball sampling among the professional psychology community. A total of 60 psychologists’ surveys were included in this study. Findings suggested ambiguity of psychologists’ attitudes towards their graduate training. Psychologists requested better integration of R/S topics within multicultural coursework. Additionally, psychologists felt competent discussing R/S topics with clients despite the lack of training.
Extent
46 pgs
Recommended Citation
Santiago, Kristi, "Psychologists’ Graduate Training Experience and Attitudes in Religion and Spirituality" (2022). Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects. 475.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/capstone_masters/475
Paper Method
Empirical - Quantitative
Included in
Clinical Psychology Commons, Multicultural Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Religion Commons