Clinical Psychologists’ Professional Identity: A Qualitative Investigation and Development of a Pilot Scale

Abstract

Professional identity is an under-investigated construct for clinical psychologists. No profession-specific professional identity measurement scale exists for this professional group. Using an integrative literature review, this thesis investigated clinical psychologists’ professional identity construct from a social identity perspective. Following this review, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 senior clinical psychologists to further explore clinical psychologists’ professional identity. Both qualitative content analysis and interrater agreement measures were employed to generate findings, providing a theoretical framework for a clinical psychologist professional identity prototype. This prototype defined five broad areas as integral to clinical psychology professional identity. This included how clinical psychologists perceive their professional identity, personal attributes seen as integral to professional identity, skills and knowledge central to professional identity, a set of expected behaviours fundamental to being a clinical psychologist, and contexts as being influential to who clinical psychologists are. Using an expert panel of senior clinical psychologists, a pilot scale was developed aimed at early career clinical psychologists to measure their development across the five aspects of professional identity. The overall findings have provided an exploratory perspective on clinical psychologists’ professional identity, a pilot scale for further validation, and promote further investigation into this important concept.