Perspectives of clinical students on training in community mental health and community psychology

Three hundred eighty-five advanced doctoral students from 102 training programs in clinical, clinical--community, and community psychology participated in as assessment of their training in community psychology/community mental health (CP/CMH). Significant findings included: (a) 66% consider training in CP/CMH as very helpful to their career goals, (b) 54% are very much interested in post-doctoral training in CP/CMH, and (c) 62% consider the training in CP/CMH available in their graduate programs below adequate. Respondents rated the coverage and adequacy of coverage of 30 CP/CMH-related topics. Only four topics were reported by 50% or more of the respondents as having been covered. For the 30 topics, reported adequacy of coverage ranged from 40% to 67%; the percentage of respondents who considered coverage inadequate ranged from 18% to 56%.