Wolski, Tamara (2021) The transition from student to professional: The experience of becoming a psychologist. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Psychologists play an important role in combating Australia’s rising mental health crisis Although there is a large body of literature for other trainee frontline health care workers, such as nurses and doctors, there is limited research on the transition from student to professional in the field of psychology. Acquiring a rich understanding of the trials and tribulations of becoming a provisional psychologist can assist universities and health care placements to best prepare these newly emerging frontline workers to deal with the complexities of working with those suffering with mental illness. In order to gather the data for this research, semi-structured interviews of nine USQ postgraduate psychology students were undertaken in June 2021, 18 months into their Masters of Clinical Psychology degree. An exploratory qualitative research design was utilized to analyse the common themes expressed by the students. The students were asked open-ended questions relating to the challenges and joys of becoming a provisional psychologist, the stressors and coping mechanisms they utilized, program evaluation and advice that would give to other first year provisional psychology students. Extending on previous research, it was revealed that provisional psychologists found the transition from student to professional to be a steep learning curve and emotionally taxing. The study also found that students utilized numerous coping strategies in order to make the transition less stressful, including: using a good network of social supports, such as their supervisors and peers, as well as both behavioural and cogitative self-care practices.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Samantha Brown |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Nov 2025 01:57 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Nov 2025 01:57 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | provisional psychologist ; experiences ; thematic exploratory research |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52894 |
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