Integrating French second-language experiences into clinical psychology training to enhance retention of English-speaking trainees
Context: Minority communities need access to linguistically/culturally sensitive mental health services. In this respect, Québec Anglophones face a retention challenge: Many English-speaking clinical psychology trainee students leave Québec upon graduation, thereby reducing the available pool of English-speaking mental health practitioners. Reasons include linguistic challenges in establishing a sustainable clinical practice in Québec, such as inability to meet French-language requirements of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec and/or inability to build a practice that includes Francophone clients. Concordia's Psychology Department is instituting a novel approach to addressing this challenge by integrating French-language experiences for English-speaking trainees into its program. This provides the project setting; we will closely study Concordia's experience and conduct a systematic review of literature on relevant best practices.
Main objective: Deliver a report on best practices for French second-language training and assessment for trainees in clinical psychology with a focus on potential implications for trainee retention.
Procedures: Procedures include (1) Examining the literature worldwide on best practices for language-training of mental health clinicians; (2) Interviewing 30 Concordia clinical psychology trainees; (3) Interviewing participating clinical supervisors; (4) Consulting community-based practicing clinicians about experiences using their secondlanguage-French with Francophone clients.
Data analyses: Systematic Reviews of the literature; Qualitative Analyses of interview data.
Outputs:
Evidence synthesis: Following interviews with trainees and supervisors, the team conducted a global systematic review to identify best practices for second-language training of mental health clinicians, aligned with the study’s qualitative analysis.
Final report (forthcoming): Will present theory- and evidence-based guidelines for integrating French second-language training into clinical psychology programs.
Expected impact: Improved retention of English-speaking trainees in Québec and enhanced access to mental health services for English-speaking communities.
Knowledge sharing: The final report will be disseminated to higher education institutions and Centres intégrés universitaires de santé et de services sociaux to support collaboration and strengthen health and social services for English-speaking populations.