What’s the problem? Recruitment to intellectual disability psychology: A qualitative study

This paper builds upon the research of Arnold et al. (2024), further exploring factors which increase or decrease the likelihood of trainee psychologists choosing to work in the Intellectual Disability speciality on qualifying. This research was conducted in light of difficulties in the recruitment of psychologists in ID services despite the expansion of clinical psychology trainee cohorts. A qualitative design was used, whereby data was analysed via qualitative content analysis. Results demonstrate that support, interests, social inequalities, and career development (amongst other factors) are important in determining likeliness to work in ID services. These findings add to the quantitative findings of Arnold et al. (2024). On comparing results of these two studies, contradictions were noted, and thus further research is recommended to explore explicit and implicit attitudes. Recommendations are made for doctoral programmes, ID services and the BPS’s Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities.