Survey of Internship Training in Rehabilitation Psychology: 2019

Purpose/Objective: The purpose of this study was to obtain information about psychology internship training programs involving work with individuals with disabilities receiving rehabilitation services in the United States and Canada. Research Method/Design: The Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) directory was used to identify 426 training programs that listed supervised experience in rehabilitation psychology, and these programs were sent a survey assessing characteristics of their internship. There were 227 program directors who responded (53%), and 114 of them reported that their internship involved working with disabled persons receiving rehabilitation services. Results: The majority of training programs were at a hospital or subacute rehabilitation facility (Veteran Affairs and non-Veteran Affairs), and 41% of the programs were housed within an independent psychology department. Sixteen programs (15%) had faculty who were board certified by the American Board of Rehabilitation Psychology (ABRP). Conclusions/Implications: Interns were exposed to a broad range of conditions, such as brain injuries, orthopedic, and spinal cord injuries, as well as comorbid psychiatric and substance use disorders. Interns were also provided various levels of training in ABRP competencies across programs. Opportunities to improve training with rehabilitation populations at the internship level include increasing didactics related to rehabilitation psychology and increasing opportunities to work with ABRP faculty. Impact and ImplicationsThis article provides detailed information about predoctoral internship programs that include rehabilitation psychology training. It highlights helpful information such as number of interns and salary, in addition to program structure and demographics such as number of faculty, population served, and rehabilitation psychology competencies taught. The information can provide doctoral students in rehabilitation psychology a roadmap should they desire to concentrate their training in rehabilitation psychology. The article also highlights recommendations to improve the education and training of programs that provide rehabilitation services.