Rural and remote psychologists' views on provisional psychologist supervision

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Rural Health
• Workforce Development

Background:

• South Australia faces critical shortages in its rural and remote psychology workforce.
• Universities struggle to place provisional psychologists in rural areas due to a lack of supervising psychologists.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the barriers and facilitators influencing rural and remote psychologists' willingness to supervise provisional psychologists.
• To understand the perspectives of practicing psychologists in underserved regions regarding supervision.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative research methodology.
• Semi-structured interviews with ten rural or remote psychologists.
• Reflexive thematic analysis of interview data.

Main Results:

• Identified key barriers including Medicare rebate rates, professional divisions, and qualification ambiguities.
• Facilitators included perceived benefits, ownership, and altruistic motivations for supervision.
• Significant differences in supervision experiences were noted between public and private practice settings.

Conclusions:

• Findings highlight the need for policy interventions, such as government funding and revised Medicare items, to support rural psychology supervision.
• Enhancing the promotion of supervision benefits is recommended to encourage more psychologists to participate.
• This research provides valuable insights into rural psychologists' views on supervision and professional engagement.