Abstract

Objective: To conduct an online survey in order to understand neuropsychology trainees’ perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify pertinent concerns, training gaps, and recommendations.

Method: A total of 874 neuropsychology trainees (81% female) completed the 69-item survey. Of the included trainees, 48% were doctoral students, 17% were interns, and 35% were postdoctoral residents (50% of resident respondents were in their first year).

Results: The majority of neuropsychology trainees reported some impact of the pandemic on their professional and/or personal life. Overall, the impact did not differ by training level, geographic location, or demographic factors. Trainees’ primary professional concerns included uncertainty about the impact of the pandemic on their professional future, loss of clinical hours, and desire for increased and ongoing communication from their leadership. A notable percentage of trainees reported increased personal mental health symptoms (i.e. anxiety/depression; 74%/54%), as well as a number of other personal stressors. Despite the transition to telehealth (mostly interviews/feedback sessions), few trainees have prior training or experience in providing neuropsychological services via phone or video platform. A limited proportion of trainees (approximately 10%) were still seeing patients face-to-face for neuropsychological evaluations during the COVID-19 pandemic as of 14 April 2020.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting neuropsychological training and the well-being of trainees. This survey highlights the importance of communication with trainees during uncertain times. Based on the survey results, recommendations were developed to assist neuropsychology organizations in developing initiatives to support trainees during the current pandemic and in the future.

摘要

目的：进行在线调查，以了解COVID-19大流行期间神经心理学学员的观点，并确定相关问题，培训差距和建议。

方法：共有874名神经心理学学员（女性占81％）完成了69项调查。在接受培训的学员中，博士生占48％，实习生占17％，博士后占35％（占受访者第一年的50％）。

结果：大多数神经心理学的受训者报告了大流行对其职业和/或个人生活的一些影响。总体而言，培训水平，地理位置或人口统计学因素所产生的影响没有差异。受训者的主要职业问题包括：对大流行对其职业未来的影响不确定，临床时间减少以及领导层要求加强和持续沟通的愿望。显着百分比的受训者报告称其个人心理健康症状（即焦虑/抑郁； 74％/ 54％）以及许多其他个人压力源增加了。尽管已过渡到远程医疗（主要是访谈/反馈会议），但很少有受训者具有通过电话或视频平台提供神经心理学服务的先前培训或经验。

结论： COVID-19大流行正在影响神经心理学培训和受训者的健康。这项调查强调了在不确定时期与受训人员进行交流的重要性。根据调查结果，提出了一些建议，以帮助神经心理学组织制定计划，以在当前的大流行期间和未来为受训人员提供支持。