Supporting Students in Health Service Psychology Training: A Theory-Driven Approach to Meeting the Diverse Needs of Trainees

The demographic characteristics of Health Service Psychology (HSP) trainees have shifted considerably in recent decades. In what was previously a field comprised predominantly of White men, HSP trainees today represent a much broader range of backgrounds. Nonetheless, the leadership within HSP training (e.g., faculty) remains relatively homogenous, and the training approaches (e.g., mentorship styles, expectations for students) may have failed to evolve to meet the needs of this more diverse pool of trainees. Therefore, there is reason to believe that the training needs of students who represent an array of diverse backgrounds, identities, and life experiences may not be met by existing conceptualizations of and approaches to training. In this article, we discuss several training issues that are specific to a range of trainees, including women, trainees who are parents, sexual/gender minoritized trainees, trainees with disabilities, and trainees from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. We draw from social-ecological and feminist mentoring theories, as well as the American Psychological Association's (APA, 2018) Standards of Accreditation (SoA) for HSP Doctoral Programs, to offer recommendations for optimizing the training experiences of HSP trainees across multiple levels of analysis.