Responses of a Sample of Practicing Psychologists to Questions About Clinical Work With Trauma and Interest in...

This study reports on selected findings from a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association Practice Organization, which assessed the number of hours per month that practicing psychologists estimated they spent treating trauma survivors and their interest in additional clinical training on trauma-related issues and topics. Respondents reported 14.3 mean number of hours spent working with trauma survivors over the past month. Of the 76% of the sample who treated any trauma patients, the mean was 16.9 hours. Although trauma psychology is not currently an integral component of the standard curricula in graduate-level education, generalist psychology practitioners are treating trauma-related concerns in their clinical practices. It is imperative therefore to ascertain if they are adequately trained in specialized trauma recognition, assessment, and treatment. The fact that almost 64% of survey respondents expressed interest in participating in educational endeavors to learn more about trauma-related clinical topics suggests that such a need exists and that more training opportunities, including ongoing continuing education offerings, should be organized.