Applying to professional psychology doctoral internship sites in Canada: Perceived barriers and supports.

Little research to date has investigated the experiences of students applying for the doctoral internship in professional psychology (i.e., clinical psychology, counselling psychology, school psychology, clinical neuropsychology) in Canada.Thus, the goal of the present study was to identify doctoral students' perceived barriers and supports to applying to internship sites in Canada.Ten internship applicants from Canadian graduate programs were invited to participate in three semistructured virtual interviews scheduled throughout the 2023 Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers Match.During these interviews, participants discussed the application process, including perceived barriers and supports in applying to certain internship sites.Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified five themes from the interview transcripts: (a) site information, (b) mismatch between graduate training experiences and site expectations, (c) geographic mobility, (d) financial cost of applying, and (e) social support.These findings suggest ways in which institutions may continue to support as well as better support students. Public Significance StatementWhen making the important decision of where to apply for the doctoral internship in professional psychology, students may face both challenges and supports.In this study, students from Canadian graduate programs discussed challenges in deciding where to apply related to site information, mismatches between training experiences and internship site expectations, the financial cost of applying, limited geographic mobility, and lacking social support.Students also noted facilitators in deciding where to apply, such as support networks and having the interview process being entirely online.