Perspectives of psychology graduates on the registration of psychologists in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study sought to explore the views of psychology graduates on the process of registration as a psychologist in Zimbabwe. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was done by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews to 12 purposely selected psychology graduates. All participants had a master’s degree of which five were registered psychologists and the rest were not. Three major themes were generated from the analysis of the participants’ interviews and these were: academic qualifications for registration, post-graduate internship, board examinations and continuing professional development (CPD). The results reveal lack of choices at masters’ degree programmes resulting in participants embarking on counselling and community psychology degrees. They showed dislike on the CPD points due to barriers such as localisation of workshops and lack of time to do research. The study recommends that the Allied Health Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe needs to collaborate with universities, psychology interns and registered psychologists in registration and practice of psychologists.