ABSTRACT

Objective: Psychologists are at the forefront of assessing and treating clients who been affected by trauma. This study determined the proportion of Australian postgraduate psychology courses that provide training on trauma in coursework units.

Method: Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyse the trauma-related contents of online unit handbooks from Masters of Psychology courses that were offered in 2019.

Results: Forty-two unit handbooks from 25 courses delivered by 16 institutions explicitly mentioned trauma-related content, equating to 31.65% of courses included in the present study. Of those unit handbooks, 30 were unique (i.e., not duplicates across courses at the same institution). Content analysis of the unit handbooks revealed (a) trauma was most commonly discussed as a disorder (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder, stressor-related disorders) and (b) postgraduate psychology students were often taught about trauma-related assessment, intervention and theory.

Conclusions: Trauma training appears limited within postgraduate psychology coursework in Australia. Further research is warranted into how well-prepared psychology graduates are to work with clients who have been exposed to trauma. Such preparedness is vital in the current Australian climate whereby many individuals are impacted by potentially traumatic loss or adversity, for example, due to bushfires and COVID-19.

KEY POINTS

What is already known about this topic:

1. The effects of traumatisation are highly variable across individuals and thus psychologists must be well-informed about the different presentations of trauma.

2. Trauma- and stressor-related disorders are often challenging to treat and psychologists must be well-trained in appropriate interventions for doing so.

3. Mental health practitioners often lack the appropriate support and training in addressing the needs of clients who have been affected by traumatising events.

What this topic adds:

1. Only a minority of postgraduate psychology courses in Australia appeared to contain information about trauma.

2. Further research is warranted to continue to explore psychologists’ training and competency development in trauma-informed practice.

3. Systemic changes to postgraduate psychology courses are required to ensure all provisional psychologists receive foundational knowledge and skills in supporting clients who have been impacted by trauma.

摘要

目标：心理学家处于评估和治疗受创伤影响的客户的最前沿。这项研究确定了在课程单元中提供创伤培训的澳大利亚研究生心理学课程的比例。

方法：采用描述性统计和内容分析法，对2019年开设的心理学硕士课程在线单元手册的创伤相关内容进行分析。

结果：来自 16 个机构的 25 门课程的 42 个单元手册明确提到了与创伤相关的内容，相当于本研究中包含的课程的 31.65%。在这些单元手册中，有 30 个是独一无二的（即，在同一机构的课程中没有重复）。对单元手册的内容分析显示（a）创伤最常被讨论为一种障碍（例如，创伤后应激障碍、压力源相关障碍）和（b）研究生心理学学生经常被教导有关创伤相关的评估、干预和理论。

结论：在澳大利亚的研究生心理学课程中，创伤培训似乎有限。有必要进一步研究如何准备好心理学毕业生与遭受创伤的客户合作。这种准备在当前的澳大利亚气候中至关重要，许多人受到潜在的创伤性损失或逆境的影响，例如，由于丛林大火和 COVID-19。

关键点

关于这个主题的已知信息：

1. 创伤的影响因人而异，因此心理学家必须充分了解创伤的不同表现。

2. 与创伤和压力源相关的疾病通常难以治疗，因此心理学家必须接受过适当干预的良好培训。

3. 心理健康从业者往往缺乏适当的支持和培训来满足受创伤事件影响的客户的需求。

本主题添加的内容：

1. 澳大利亚只有少数研究生心理学课程似乎包含有关创伤的信息。

2. 有必要进一步研究以继续探索心理学家在创伤知情实践中的培训和能力发展。

3. 需要对研究生心理学课程进行系统性改变，以确保所有临时心理学家都能获得基础知识和技能，以支持受创伤影响的客户。