Religious Coping in the Trainee Clinical Psychologist: Beliefs; Practices; Implications

A qualitative approach (interpretative phenomenological analysis) was used to explore the experiences of religiously oriented trainee clinical psychologists. Eight female participants (seven Christians and one Hindu) were recruited using a snowballing technique. A semi structured interview was designed to explore their use of religious coping in dealing with work/training related stress. This was considered particularly within the context of the historically critical attitude of psychology towards religion. The analysis demonstrated that all of the participants regularly used religious coping in a work context and further, that they held religion to be a valuable aspect of their lives and a central part of their identity. On the whole participants considered their religious beliefs and religious coping to be a beneficial and enriching part of their working lives. It also emerged however, that their experiences of the profession of clinical psychology as critical of their beliefs, on the whole led them to be guarded and at times secretive (with peers, colleagues, supervisors and tutors) about the impact of their faith on their therapeutic work and on their thinking. I propose that this lack of communication is not ideal for trainees, has implications for client work and is at odds with a profession that promotes evidence-based practice, reflexivity and the use of supervision. The clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed and an initial training tool for promoting thought and discussion is included. Areas are identified for further research.

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