A Collaborative Autoethnographic Exploration of Experiences of Research Psychology Interns

Abstract

Navigating the art of theory and practice as three African female research psychology interns in South Africa, we worked in the areas of violence, injury and non-natural deaths which continue to plague the country, including the communities with which we are engaged for research purposes. Noting the scarcity of literature on research psychology internships, we used collaborative autoethnography to explore our lived experiences in relation to the work that we do. Allowing for the elucidation of our collective experiences from our own perspectives, we offer these reflections to inform improved management and coping mechanisms with the challenges and emotional distress that we experienced, and to explore our personal and professional development during our internship. We identified themes of internship characteristics, psychological distress from working with injury and violence data, personal and professional advancement, and collegiality and workplace support. In these themes, we contend that the characteristics and competencies interns need to be complemented with adequate workplace support and collegiality which can aid in coping, particularly in research that deals with sensitive topics.