Training and Education in Professional Psychology, Vol 20(1), Feb 2026, 7-14; doi:10.1037/tep0000538
Starting or joining an independent practice is a common goal of health service psychology graduates, and having a practice be successful is helped by business-related knowledge and skills. This study examines self-efficacy for business aspects of independent practice among current and recent health service psychology graduate students. We compared self-efficacy across three groups of health service psychology participants (n = 242): current doctoral students, recent graduates in independent practice, and recent graduates not in or interested in independent practice. We identified four potential self-efficacy domains (practice logistics, insurance, payment self-efficacy, and PsyPact). Generally, we found low self-efficacy across independent practice skills and that self-efficacy did not strongly differ as a function of training program or experience. Graduates working in independent practice had higher self-efficacy across all domains except PsyPact self-efficacy, which was similarly low across groups. These findings are discussed in the context of training and career preparedness of health service psychology trainees. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)