Differentiating amongst characteristics associated with problems of professional competence: Perceptions of graduate student peers.

Abstract

Limited previous literature on peers influenced by students with problems of professional competence has descriptively focused on rates of peer identification and actions in response to identification. Prior research has suggested that students who exhibit diminished functioning due to life stressors or psychological distress may be qualitatively different than students who lack the capacity to ever perform the duties of a competent professional psychologist. Thus, the current study explored peer perceptions of various problems that graduate students in professional psychology might experience. A survey given to a cross-section of clinical psychology doctoral-level students found that (a) awareness of policies regarding identification of problem students is associated with degree of faith in faculty effectiveness in handling student issues, (b) students differently perceived trait problems (e.g., lack of self-awareness, immaturity) from externalizing psychopathology (e.g., drug and alcohol problems) and other indices of psychological distress (e.g., anxiety, depression, financial strain), and (c) peers who are seen as lacking capacity to achieve competence are perceived less sympathetically and are recommended for different remediation strategies compared with students with diminished functioning. Implications for program policies and the function of graduate programs as gatekeepers are discussed.