ABSTRACT

Very little published research explores responses of universities to their trainees during a crisis or emergency. We used a qualitative approach to gather information regarding a university’s first counseling psychology doctoral trainee with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. Six participants (two administrators, four trainees) responded to a series of critical-incident questions to identify helpful and hindering responses, as well as a wish list of items that would have been helpful to have at the time of the event. From thematic analysis emerged 34 themes, six broader categories, and many helpful, hindering, and wish-list items. The broader categories were health anxiety, emotional responses, stigma, support, rules/guidelines, and systems responses. Perhaps the most striking finding, which occurred across most participants and several categories, was participants’ complex and contradictory experiences and responses, suggesting that the precipitating event of a trainee testing positive for COVID-19 activated a great deal of conflicted motivation. This research provides the benefit of experience for other university trainees and training sites regarding a little-understood crisis event. Implications for best practices are discussed.

摘要

很少有已发表的研究探讨大学在危机或紧急情况下对受训者的反应。我们使用定性方法收集有关大学第一位确诊为 COVID-19 的咨询心理学博士生的信息。六名参与者（两名管理人员，四名受训人员）回答了一系列关键事件问题，以确定有帮助和有阻碍的回答，以及在事件发生时可能有帮助的项目的愿望清单。从专题分析中出现了 34 个主题、六个更广泛的类别以及许多有用的、阻碍性的和愿望清单项目。更广泛的类别是健康焦虑、情绪反应、污名、支持、规则/指南和系统反应。也许最引人注目的发现发生在大多数参与者和几个类别中，是参与者复杂而矛盾的经历和反应，这表明受训者 COVID-19 检测呈阳性的突发事件激发了大量相互矛盾的动机。这项研究为其他大学受训者和培训场所提供了有关鲜为人知的危机事件的经验。讨论了最佳实践的含义。