Search

Results from a recent BPS and NSP survey (2020) confirmed psychological practitioners are an at-risk group for their overall wellbeing. While most research to date focuses on clinical psychologists, limited research exists on counselling psychologists (CP), and more specifically trainee CP who are at an optimal time in their career to learn stress management and explore self-care strategies before entering the professional world. A mixed-methods study was therefore conducted with (n= 45) U.K. based CP trainees to explore 3 main objectives; (1) to measure trainees’ current levels of stress, (2) to understand trainees’ experience of using self-care tools in their own lives, and (3) to explore specific facilitators and barriers to support for trainees, if any.Initially, the Perceived Stress Scale-10 item (PSS-10), was used to measure current levels of trainee stress. 71.1 per cent of the sample scored in the moderate stress range. Following this (n= 10) trainees participated in follow-up semi-structured interviews. Using thematic analysis 4 main themes emerged; 1. Practising what we preach, 2. Individual differences, 3. Training Structure, and 4. Competing demands. In this article, we focus on the most prominent subthemes which are key barriers as noted by the majority of participants: from Theme 3-Placement hours, and from Theme 4-Influence of finances. Overall, this paper concludes that despite the moderate stress level amongst this population, there is still an attempt by trainees to apply self-care to their own lives but with key facilitators and barriers in this respect.

Background Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) is a screening assay for chronic kidney disease (CKD). A value of >30 mg/g is flagged abnormal, but lower ratios have prognostic implications. Thus, to maximize diagnostic utility, urine albumin (uAlb) should be measurable to 3 mg/L to match the lowest creatinine concentration generally utilized (10 mg/dL). Most uAlb assays have lower limits of quantitation (LLOQs) 2- to 4-fold higher. We sought to determine the performance characteristics of a commonly used uAlb assay at 3 mg/L and to evaluate the clinical screening impact of reducing the LLOQ. Methods Urine was serially diluted to assess uAlb linearity and precision for concentrations near the claimed LLOQ (12 mg/L). Samples (n = 30) with uAlb Results The assay was linear to 1.6 mg/L. Interday precision at 3.7 mg/L and 4.3 mg/L was 7.7% and 8.6%, respectively. Minimal bias was observed between labs (y = 1.091x − 0.75; average bias = −0.13 mg/L). Clinical validation demonstrated 501 of 1239 samples (40.4%) had uAlb 10 mg/L, 107 of 499 (21.4%) would have a ratio flagged abnormal at >30 mg/g. Using the numeric value for these samples to 3 mg/L reduced alarm to Conclusions A uAlb LLOQ of 3 mg/L improves screening utility of uACR by simplifying reporting and clinical interpretation when uAlb is low and provides clinical information for prognostic tools developed for people at risk of CKD.