Swift Current resident doing research into important role of rural school psychologists
Swift Current psychologist Conor Barker has received a prestigious Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) doctoral fellowship for his research into rural school psychology.
He is studying towards a doctorate in educational psychology at the University of Regina.
He received an amount of $40,000 from the SSHRC doctoral fellowship program for his research topic “Using communities of practice to develop clinical competency with rural school psychologists.”
These fellowships are awarded after a competitive process. Applications are adjudicated through a merit review process and the selection committee recommendations are used to determine the top-ranked candidates.
Barker’s proposal is among the top 12 per cent or 430 proposals that were funded from 3,562 applications across Canada. He is one of only six recipients in Saskatchewan.
“This wasn't my first attempt at this scholarship,” he said.
“I had applied a few years past. So I've had to work through the rejection letters and the feedback I received from reviewers, but to finally be recognized at this level is a real honour and I think kind of showcases the uniqueness of this particular study, because this is the first time I applied with this particular idea and obviously it's something that the funders had interest in. I'm just so honoured that I get to be among these researchers that get funded.”
He was not discouraged when his previous proposals were unsuccessful, but used the feedback to gain more clarity on the research problem he wanted to focus on.
He realized his previous ideas were related to different areas of his practice as a psychologist, and his successful research proposal will therefore investigate the unique features of practicing psychology in rural Saskatchewan. It will identify the core skills and knowledge that psychologists need to have to practice in a rural area.
He is a full-time psychologist at the Chinook School Division and he also provides consulting services at the Northside Medical Clinic in Swift Current.
“There's just so many parts to my work as a rural school psychologist and I don't just do one thing,” he said. “I do lots of things in my day to day work and that story wasn't really represented anywhere in the current literature. This generalist nature that we have as school psychologists, they're not really talking about that anywhere. I got talking with my colleagues and pitched the idea to them, and they were saying the same thing. I think sharing that experience to the broader field of psychology is really important.”
Barker noted that rural psychologists are becoming the generalist practitioners in mental health, because there are not so many specialists available in rural areas and travel to larger urban centres can be a barrier to service for rural residents.
“If you're working in urban centres, you can focus on one area of psychology,” he said.
“So you could be focused on work with children or just work with children with a particular disorder. Then you can really specialize in the treatment modalities for that particular subset, and when you come up with something that you don't know how to do, then you can refer that to another specialist who has the knowledge in that area. In a rural setting it's a little bit different, because in many ways you are the only mental health professional within a community that's accessible or that will come to them in a school.” His research project, which has already started, involves interviews with about 10 rural psychologists from across the province. The research method uses the delphi technique, which means that the anonymous responses from the interviews will be shared with all participants. They will review the interview results and provide feedback, and in that manner the key issues will be identified.
“We get to really define and distill the core essence of the skills that you need to acquire to be a psychologist, but the other part that I really like about it is it's not just my interpretation,” he said. “So the community of psychologists can look at and say I agree with that or no, I don't. They're coming to a level of consensus around what are the skills needed to be confident as a rural school psychologist.”
Barker hopes his research will result in a recognition that there is a role for a generalist practitioner in the field of psychology.
“Right now I would say we're focused a lot on individual competencies, so a clinical psychologist, a school psychologist, a developmental psychologist,” he said. “This is really kind of moving this discussion towards what would a generalist practitioner look like and what are the skills that generalist practitioner need to have.”
Another outcome of his research will be to identify training needs through the experiences of current practising psychologists, particularly the training requirements for psychologists who will be working in rural areas.
“I would say one of the gaps in training is in terms of behaviour management,” he mentioned. “We're seeing far more behavioural challenges in our schools and psychologists aren't necessarily trained on how to intervene in these situations.”
His research will also reflect on the issues of isolation and burnout that are experienced by psychologists.
“I think that especially for a psychologist that might not be working in a major centre, it could be pretty lonely,” he said. “So part of the research is looking at how do these individuals actually stay confident and able to actually help these children and families.”
The funding from the doctoral fellowship will be used towards various research expenses, including travel and transcription costs.
“Basically it has taken off the financial burden so that I can directly focus on these studies and not have to worry about slowing down my process,” he said. “It has allowed me to do the work far more efficiently.”
He is expecting to complete the analysis portion of the research process by June and he will be writing the dissertation during the summer.