What do students want? Perspectives from the front line of doctoral training in professional and Combined-Integrated psychology.

Doctoral students in professional psychology face broad challenges, such as changing market demands and increased competition for careers in traditional practice settings. To prepare for these demands, students must decide how much and when to specialize, if at all, predoctorally. Complicating matters, students in single practice area programs (clinical, counseling, or school) may risk becoming insulated within the culture of their practice area, which can limit exposure and understanding of the larger practice field. Despite conditions that may drive potential students away from psychology, little research exists on efforts to address student needs, or on student perspectives of doctoral training in general. One training model that is sensitive to these student needs and concerns is the Combined-Integrated (C-I) model. An exploratory study of C-I student and graduate opinions, experiences, and aspirations revealed that C-I students value breadth of training, diversity of experience, and professional flexibility, and that they experience diverse training opportunities and socialization experiences. Implications of these results vis-à-vis the larger framework of student concerns are examined.

Designing interventions to prevent HIV-1 infection by promoting use of condoms and spermicides among intravenous drug abusers and their sexual partners.

This paper summarizes the results of a 2-day workshop to identify the most effective educational strategies to promote use of condoms and spermicides for preventing heterosexual transmission of HIV-1 virus from intravenous drug abusers (IVDA) to their steady, nonintravenous drug abusing (NIVDA) sexual partners. Representatives from health departments, drug abuse treatment centers, academic institutions, service organizations, and the community discussed issues relating to population characteristics, educational strategies and recruitment techniques. A consensus document that identifies the most effective recruitment and intervention strategies was developed. Recruitment issues include locations, recruitment targets, anticipated difficulties, and ethical considerations. The majority of workshop participants agreed that an intervention should target the couple (both IVDA and NIVDA). Intervention concerns encompass obtaining trust, maintaining participation, and identifying guidelines to maximize program impact.

PIP: Participants at a 2-day workshop convened by the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health in May 1988, at the request of the Contraceptive Evaluation Branch of the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, discussed the feasibility of interventions aimed at promoting use of condoms and spermicides among intravenous drug abusers and their sexual partners. Such interventions are crucial to child survival efforts since the major source of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission to children is from infected intravenous drug abusers. Although most intravenous drug abusers have casual sexual contacts, over 90% are in a long-standing relationship. Contraception is more likely to be used by drug addicts in casual sexual encounters than in their stable sexual relationship. Participants at the workshop reached the consensus that intervention programs should target the couple (even if 1 partner is not an intravenous drug user), use existing value systems to change behavior, have a warm and entertaining tone, and obtain community support. Among the strategies that have been effective in recruiting intravenous drug abusers and their sexual partners have been advertisements, use of sites such as family planning and community health centers, use of nonmedical service locations such as day care centers and community organizations, involvement of trained volunteers, and targeting of a high-risk housing project. Since many intravenous drug abusers are members of poor minority communities with a history of degrading contact with institutions, attention must be given to securing the trust of participants. The interventions themselves should use behavioral modification methods that leave existing values and roles intact. In general, peer group meetings are most successful in inducing a commitment to initiate and maintain new sexual behaviors.