Professional issues in Canadian counselling psychology: Identity, education, and professional practice.

The past decade has seen significant growth in counselling psychology's professional identity, increased visibility of the specialization within applied psychology, and advances in doctoral training and accreditation by the Canadian Psychological Association. The current article details professional issues associated with the recent evolution of the field, including the establishment of a strong professional identity for the profession, developments and challenges associated with graduate training (e.g., the limited availability of predoctoral internships), and the implications of the dynamic, changing workplace environment for graduates affiliated with counselling psychology. Recommendations are offered for continued development of the specialization in its Canadian context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Canadian counselling psychology coming of age: An overview of the special section.

This paper provides a brief overview of each of the papers published in this special section on Canadian Counselling Psychology and details how the special section articles further the development of the discipline by highlighting Canadian authored scholarship, mapping out the history and current state of the discipline, and considering how the unique Canadian context shaped the literature reviewed. Specifically, this introduction outlines how the articles to follow cover the following topics: (a) the history of Canadian counselling psychology; (b) professional issues and identity; (c) counselling, training, and supervision; (d) research and scientific issues; and (e) counselling psychologists' contribution to applied psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional practice out of the urban context: Defining Canadian rural psychology.

There is an often unacknowledged difference between urban and rural practice in psychology which lacks clarity, in part, because of the lack of a common definition of rurality. Rural psychology in Canada presents complex and nuanced aspects of professional practice. The professional and social milieus of rural communities position the practising psychologist within a context that may differ vastly from urban settings. The rural context highlights the need to define this specific practice setting. This paper proposes a tentative definition of rural Canadian professional practice in psychology. This is meant to elucidate the distinct practice, training, and ethical considerations that may be the realities of the psychologists who are in professional practice in rural Canada. Rural professional practice is unique and Canadian training programs are urban-based. Training of future psychologists needs to acknowledge the unique features of rural practice to meet our obligations to students specifically and to rural Canadians generally. This is enhanced with a shared definition of rural professional practice in psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Historical understanding and teaching in professional psychology.

The teaching of the history of psychology in professional psychology training programs presents to students and teachers any number of opportunities and challenges. The increasing number of professional psychologists teaching the history of psychology coupled with advances in historical scholarship point to an ongoing evolution in the teaching of the history of psychology. In this introduction to the articles that follow, issues of content and context in teaching the history of psychology in professional psychology are discussed and affirmations offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Canadian counselling psychologists' contributions to applied psychology.

The goal of this paper is to draw attention to the contributions of Canadian counselling psychologists in three key areas central to the discipline: (a) multiculturalism, social justice, and advocacy; (b) health, wellness, and prevention, and (c) career psychology. Accordingly, we have situated our discussion within a historical framework of the discipline followed by a discussion of the Canadian context, definitions, and specific contributions. Finally, we offer a summary of the strengths and current challenges faced by Canadian counselling psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehabilitation Psychology, Medical Psychology, Health Psychology, and Behavioral Medicine.

In their recent article, "The Distinctiveness of Rehabilitation Psychology," Shontz and Wright (see record 1981-26520-001) attempt to differentiate rehabilitation psychology from other areas of applied and professional psychology in health settings. Although the authors' historical recounting of early research and theory in rehabilitation psychology is informative, too little emphasis is placed on the relationship between rehabilitation psychology and "mainstream" professional psychology, particularly with regard to its health-setting applications. There appear to be more similarities than differences. The authors' argument runs full circle, namely, that rehabilitation psychology is distinct because of its philosophy, but its philosophy and "principles are valuable to psychologists in many specialties" (p. 919). The notion of involving a patient in his/her care and treatment planning also is not unique to rehabilitation psychology. Shontz and Wright state that rehabilitation psychology is not medical psychology; however, instead of defining medical psychology, they go on to talk about medical care. Medical care is not medical psychology. Further confusion is added by the statement that medical psychology should be a component of rehabilitation psychology. The authors are using medical psychology, health psychology, and behavioral medicine as if they are synonymous, when they are not. Each discipline is made distinct here. Shontz and Wright do not address what the majority of psychologists in rehabilitation do, that is, provide services. In short, although the authors complain about the unfamiliarity of rehabilitation psychology relative to the profession as a whole, their article does little to promote rehabilitation psychology as an area of interest important to professional psychologists in health care and/or rehabilitation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training graduate students to be clinical supervisors: A survey of Canadian professional psychology programmes.

Recognising the need for training in clinical supervision, the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) requires that accredited professional psychology programmes offer graduate students training in supervision. To fill a gap in the existing supervision literature, we surveyed training directors (or designates) of CPA accredited clinical and counselling programmes to understand how this training standard is currently being met in the area of clinical supervision. Responses were obtained from 20 of 28 programmes (71.4% response rate). Approximately 50% of respondents indicated that their programmes required some coursework related to clinical supervision, with wide variability, however, in the number of hours of coursework provided to students (range 3 to 39). Most courses included lectures and group discussion, but also often provided students with practical experience in clinical supervision provision. Only 25% of programmes required a practicum in which students gained experience in clinically supervising other students, although an additional 40% of programmes offered an elective practicum in which students gained some training in clinical supervision. Most programmes (~71%) identified strategies for improving training in clinical supervision (e.g., improving course work, requiring practical experience), but also identified challenges to offering clinical supervision training (e.g., availability of skilled supervisors, insufficient time to devote to supervision, student competency). Based on the findings, we offer some recommendations for how training in clinical supervision could be improved in Canadian professional psychology programmes as well as describe some important directions for future research in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mainstreaming psychology of women with school psychology.

With the resurgence of the women's movement in the late 1960s, a new scholarly field, the psychology of women, developed within psychology. Scholarship on women continues today both as a separate area of investigation and study and as an area integrated into mainstream American psychology. Although this effort has been ongoing within psychology, school psychology has focused relatively little on women's issues and on issues of sex and gender. This is surprising given the many women in the field of school psychology and in the schools. Thus, the purpose of this special issue is to begin a process of enrichment, much as other psychology fields have already been enriched, by mainstreaming the psychology of women with school psychology. Three articles and a discussion are presented in the miniseries. Each of the authors explores a different topic relevant to women and school psychology and includes a literature review as well as discussion of the salience of the literature to professional school psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Historically grounding the practice of psychology: Implications for professional training.

The author explores 3 ways the history of psychology can be made relevant to professional training in clinical psychology. Focusing on the practitioner-scholar model of clinical professional training, he argues that 3 central facets of historical understanding can be wedded to existing goals of professional training: (a) providing an interdisciplinary context for psychology, (b) addressing concerns about humans in the field, and (c) mediating theory-practice tensions that often exist in professional training. Suggestions are also made for encouraging historical understanding as essential to fostering critical self-reflection among students preparing for careers in professional psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The power of multiple methods and evidence sources: Raising the profile of Canadian counselling psychology research.

In counselling psychology, research and practice are viewed as mutually informative, and Canadian counselling psychologists conduct research in a wide range of areas, utilizing a wide range of research methods. However, there are few Canadian publications that give prominence to counselling psychology scholarly work. Over the past decade, two trends have become more prominent in the practice of counselling psychology: evidence-based practice and outcome-focused intervention. Traditionally, empirical evidence for the efficacy of practice interventions has come from randomized controlled trials. This fails to reflect the diversity of methods and practice that Canadian counselling psychologists utilize. To address this discrepancy, in this article we provide some alternate ways for obtaining empirical support for the predictive efficacy of counselling interventions. We conclude by addressing some challenges currently facing counselling psychologists in Canada (i.e., publication venues, funding for research, the connection between research and practice, preparation of students) and describing some ways for raising the profile of counselling psychology research and practice in Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Promotion of Academic Careers in School Psychology: A Conceptual Framework of Impact Points, Recommended Strategies, and Hopeful Outcomes.

School psychology is facing a major shortage of faculty in graduate training and education programs. To deal with this shortage and the issues that surround it, we propose a conceptual framework that incorporates a number of impact points that graduate training programs can use to educate and sustain individuals in academic careers. The impact points include: selection of students, program-related training variables, post-program transition variables, and sustainability of academic careers. Each of these impact points is discussed within the context of the role that current faculty and practitioners in the profession can play in graduate education and training of academic scholars. Among the variety of potential solutions to the shortage, we introduce the concept of the "virtual university" to promote future education and sustainability of faculty within our graduate training programs. A case scenario from graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is presented as a context for the impact points raised in the article. We argue that those of us in the profession think systemically and lead the way into a new era of collaborative work across our graduate programs and among our colleagues in clinical, counseling, and related areas of applied and professional psychology graduate training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A history of psychology: Original sources and contemporary research, 3rd edition.

Reviews the book, A history of psychology: Original sources and contemporary research, 3rd edition by Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. (see record 2008-08540-000). This book joins recent scholarship in the history of psychology with an assortment of classic articles and texts in the field. Published primarily as a reader or companion text, it offers a collection of 44 articles, 20 of which are primary source material; the remainder are more recent secondary sources from well-established authors in the area. In this third edition, Benjamin has made some editorial changes from previous versions of this popular text. For example, the number of chapters has been reduced from 16 to 11 in order to make it a more suitable companion to a traditional textbook on the history of psychology. While there are some wonderful articles here, the reviewer notes a general lack of critical perspective in both Benjamin’s narratives and his choice of secondary sources which prevents him from giving this review the glow that one would normally associate with such esteemed authors and scholarship. His main concerns are that, first, the epistemic and ontological perspectives offered are largely those of professional psychologists rather than those of historians, reflecting a field where researchers already struggle with the notions of interpretation and context, all set within a self-imposed framework of empirical science and objectivity. Second, as a result of this, the future of the history of psychology course is in peril because of its own popularity as a capstone course, where it seems to serve, by and large, the ceremonial and disciplinary function of codifying psychology’s scientific identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School psychology: A specialty of professional psychology with distinct competencies and complexities.

School psychology at the doctoral level is recognized as a specialty of professional psychology by the American Psychological Association, with corresponding licensure as a psychologist granted by state boards of psychology. School psychology also is regulated by state boards of education; they set the credentialing standards for professional practice in public schools. The intent of this article is to enhance the understanding of this distinct and multiply influenced specialty. The need for psychological services in schools is highlighted, followed by a discussion of multiple influences and licensing/credentialing issues. Next, the specialty is delineated, its distinctiveness highlighted, and competencies for practice in the public schools elaborated. Finally, education/training models and mechanisms for program accreditation are described, as are the major professional organizations in school psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School psychology's dilemma: A proposal for its resolution.

School psychology (SP) is at an impasse: Sharp differences exist within the field about its nature and about entry level for its independent practice. This article proposes that SP be acknowledged as a profession apart from professional psychology and that a revision of the specialty concerned with the professional practice of psychology in education be undertaken within the American Psychological Association. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The value context of psychology.

The author examines the psychologist's position in psychotherapy as related to other professions working in this area. He raises questions on intrinsic professional development and developments in the "institutional complex within which psychology is defining its place." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The emerging field of the sociology of psychological knowledge.

Considers the social context in which professional academicians practice psychology. The ties of psychological knowledge to the infrastructure of society are noted, and comparisons with the sociology of knowledge are made. The underlying social biases of 5 areas within psychology (differential, humanistic, developmental, behavioristic, and social) are reviewed. Recent articles from the American Psychologist are sampled to indicate the growing awareness by the profession of the social base of its activities. (86 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology applied to education: A specialty in search of an identity.

Proposes that a revision of doctoral school psychology be considered within the American Psychological Association that better meets standards for specialty status in professional psychology. School psychology as it currently exists has become a nondoctoral profession of a highly applied nature that is not really a product of psychology. A new professional specialty concerned with the application of psychology to education should be commensurate with accepted goals of professional psychology education and practice and meet at least 3 additional requirements: movement from concern for schools to concern for schooling, greater emphasis on an educational orientation than on mental health, and greater reliance on educational psychology as the knowledge base for professional practice. What is presently called school psychology is moving toward a doctoral specialization that is trying to decrease the gap between assessment and intervention. An impetus for this movement has been the use of behavioral psychology in educational settings. Educational psychology has expanded due to the development of cognitive psychology and decreased reliance on the laws of learning. (97 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Seminar training in APA-approved internship programs: Is there a core curriculum?

Survey data from 110 predoctoral internship programs show that the average program required 143 hrs of seminars. Although the seminar offerings were diverse, many internships had a core program that included seminars in assessment, professional issues, neuropsychology, psychopharmacology, and psychotherapy. MANOVA revealed no differences in number of hours required of each seminar across types of facilities. Results are discussed in the context of the recent literature on clinical psychology training and the need for better communication among all involved in graduate-level psychology training. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)