Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2024, Counseling Psychology

Health service psychology (HSP) students are at a high risk of burnout and physical and mental health problems (El-Ghoroury et al., 2011; Rummell, 2015). Research has begun to explore environmental factors within training programs that cause or prevent burnout (e.g., Kovach Clark et al., 2009; Swords & Ellis, 2017). Using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model of burnout (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017; Demerouti et al., 2001), the present study assessed the relationships between demands, resources, and burnout symptoms in a sample of HSP doctoral students. Structural equation modeling was used to test the JD-R model and compare the relative contributions of perceived workload, weekly work hours, sense of community, work environment, and relationships with academic advisors and clinical supervisors to students' symptoms of exhaustion and disengagement. Analyses of variance were used to explore demographic group differences to better understand the experiences of diverse students, especially those with minoritized identities. Participants reported high levels of burnout symptoms, especially exhaustion. The hypothesized JD-R model, which contains unique and separate pathways representing the processes by which job demands sap energy and job resources promote engagement, did not yield interpretable parameters and thus was not a good fit to the data. However, an alternative model containing additional pathways between job demands and resources and burnout symptoms fit the data well and collectively predicted about half (50.8%) the variance in exhaustion and about a third (31.8%) of the variance in disengagement. The results demonstrated HSP doctoral students' experiences of burnout are highly linked to environmental factors. High demands impair students' health and create exhaustion, while lacking resources impair motivation and create disengagement. Perceived workload, sense of community, and the work environment had the largest effects on burnout sym (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Margo Gregor (Advisor); Joelle Elicker (Committee Member); Ingrid Weigold (Committee Member); Varunee Faii Sangganjanavanich (Committee Member); John Queener (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Education; Health Sciences; Multicultural Education; Occupational Health; Psychology; School Counseling

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2022, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

Religion and spirituality, when viewed through a holistic lens, can reflect important aspects of a person's identity. It can be a source of well-being and also struggle. The fields of religion, spirituality and psychology have had a history of being polarized, with some efforts to integrate the two fields. Tensions exist at multiple ecological levels around the topic of religion and spirituality, which can make it easier to avoid discussing it in classrooms and therapy rooms. It is important to address and create room for discussion of experiences around religion and spirituality in classrooms that are training psychologists so they can be better prepared to address it with their clients. The addressing of religion and spirituality in considering multiple levels is supported by the new ecological framework shared in the American Psychological Association (APA) multicultural guidelines. Many psychologists, students, and the APA itself, support the idea of training in religion and spirituality as a diversity factor, yet this topic is being taught inconsistently across accredited health service psychology doctoral programs. The incongruence between the support for training and lack of consistent implementation in doctoral programs revealed an opportunity to explore the topic of teaching religion and spirituality with instructors. Understanding their experiences helped to make sense of what might contribute to these inconsistencies. This study explored and analyzed the topic of religion and spirituality by understanding the experiences of instructors in secular APA accredited clinical doctoral psychology programs across the U.S. It sought to explore instructors' relationship with religion and spirituality and how their personal and professional experiences influence their teaching practices. Data was collected from eight instructors across the U.S., using semi-structured interviews and analyzed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The results of t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Michael Sakuma (Committee Chair); Dr. Leihua Edstrom (Committee Member); Dr. Cheryl Azlin (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Higher Education; Mental Health; Metaphysics; Multicultural Education; Pedagogy; Psychology; Religion; Spirituality; Theology; Therapy