Purpose Trainee clinical psychologists with parenting responsibilities are vulnerable to experiencing a stress response from the demands they are faced with from the training programme and parenting. There is very little literature to understand their experience. The exploratory study aims to understand the experiences of parents who have completed the DClinPsy training programme. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 Clinical Psychologists who were parents during their training in January 2024. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings Four themes were developed. They were theme one connection vs disconnection, theme two rigidity vs flexibility, theme three the effects on the trainee, theme four facilitators of managing demands. Originality/value This study expands the literature from understanding stress at the individual level, to considering systemic and cultural factors which are apparent. This population benefits from increased flexibility and connection within their training journey.
Johnson et al. (Fri,) studied this question.