Manpower planning in clinical psychology

Barden, Valerie E (1981) Manpower planning in clinical psychology. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This thesis investigates the problems that have arisen from attempts to manpower plan and forecast requirements in clinical psychology. It summarises the work done in Britain and abroad, considers manpower planning methods that have been successful in other fields and examines their relevance for planning in Britain. From this work a model for planning has been devised and a number of studies carried out to gather basic information and to test specific hypotheses relating to the model. The particular areas that proved to be of interest were how clinical psychologists deployed their time, and would like to deploy it, their theoretical orientation, their preferred role, how their services are presently organised and how they would like them to be organised, where they saw future developments, whether they were generally satisfied to be clinical psychologists, and what were their main satisfactions and dissatisfactions. It was hypothesised that most were working in the National Health Service, that they had high educational achievements, that they would mainly be working in the mental health, mental handicap fields and with children; and undertaking planning, management and training at all levels; that most would choose psychology again as a profession, that they would prefer to be clinical practitioners, researchers and consultants and would have a learning theory or eclectic orientation; that their main satisfactions would come from professional freedom and responsibility and their main dissatisfactions from promotion possibilities and relationships with medical staff; that in the future clinical psychologists would like to be based in the community engaged in clinical work, prevention, education and community work. All the hypotheses were supported except that psychologists seemed satisfied with their relationships with medical staff. All this information was related to the initial model and it was shown that although much of the information acquired was very useful and informative we are still unable to have a quantifiable statistical model. The overall 'need' for clinical psychologists, though estimated on quantifiable parameters, nevertheless will be determined by value judgement and by the roles clinical psychologists are seen to fulfill.

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