Examining careers in sport psychology: Who is working and who is making money?

Can psychologists earn a living working in sport psychology? The authors surveyed all professional members of American Psychological Association Division 47 and the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology regarding their income and work in sport psychology. Four hundred and thirty-three individuals responded. Sport scientists were more likely to be working in academic settings and had incomes consistent with psychologists in academia. Sport scientists in applied settings were less successful financially. Clinical and counseling psychologists in applied settings were supplementing their income through applied sport psychology work. Part-time, supplemental involvement in sport psychology appears more practical today than full-time employment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional Identity of Counseling Psychologists.

This research investigated the professional activities of members of the Division of Counseling Psychology (Division 17) of the American Psychological Association. A random sample of 700 Division 17 members was sent surveys; 304 (43.4%) respondents returned completed surveys. Participants perceived themselves as most involved with professional activities associated with short-term, goal-directed counseling and program development and least involved with research and working with paraprofessionals. Participants differed in terms of the frequency with which they perceived themselves performing certain professional activities as well as the importance they placed on these activities as a function of job setting, whether or not they were licensed for private practice, whether or not they were members of a Division other than Division 17, and whether they identified themselves as counseling or clinical psychologists. Despite these differences, common interests emerged among those Division 17 members sampled, indicating a definable applied specialty within psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical psychologists in the 1970s.

Reports a survey of 855 members of the Division of Clinical Psychology. Among the topics surveyed were professional activities, occupational setting, theoretical orientation, primary professional self-view of respondents, and satisfaction with the APA, graduate training, and choice of career. An ideology scale was administered to appraise attitudes along an intuitive-objective dimension and in terms of psychodynamic and behavioral value orientations. In general, the sample was very positive toward their choice of career and relatively so with regard to their graduate education. Approximately 41% of the respondents' time was devoted to clinical acitivities, 35% to training and research. Certain differences between subgroups are found with the greatest divergence noted between academic clinical psychologists and private practitioners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists and rehabilitation: New roles and old training models.

The role of psychologists in physical rehabilitation settings has expanded considerably over the past decades. Unfortunately, the lack of clarity regarding roles, functions, and research of psychologists in inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation settings has hampered efforts to establish guidelines for training graduate students to work in rehabilitative settings. Despite ongoing debate since the Princeton Conference in 1958, no guidelines have been recommended by Division 22 of the American Psychological Association (Division of Rehabilitation Psychology) for training doctoral students in clinical and counseling psychology programs for work in rehabilitation. This article asserts that psychology graduate students who want to work in physical rehabilitation settings should (a) have core training in psychology and (b) receive coursework and practica in working with persons who have chronic illnesses and injuries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal and professional characteristics as factors in psychologists' ethical decision making.

We explored the choices made by practicing psychologists in the face of specific ethical dilemmas, and the reasons for those choices. In addition, we explored the relationship between particular choices and particular reasons, as well as the relationship of various professional characteristics to those responses. We presented 294 psychologists, randomly selected members of the Division of Psychotherapy, with ten vignettes, each representing a potential problem of professional ethics. They were asked to indicate their preferred resolution to each dilemma and their primary reason for choosing this alternative. Although practitioners were more alike than different, results showed that respondents with certain characteristics—for example, professed theoretical orientation, sex, and years of experience—did differ in their choice of response to certain ethical dilemmas. Adherence to codified ethical guidelines was also shown to be related to willingness to take direct actions to resolve ethical dilemmas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work activities of academic clinical psychologists: Do they practice what they teach?

Do PhD-level clinical psychologists who work in academic settings engage in both research and clinical practice, as the Boulder model recommends? Clinical psychology faculty members in 3 types of psychology departments were surveyed regarding their actual and preferred work activities and their attitudes toward clinical practice. Respondents indicated that they spent more than twice as much time in research as in clinical activity, with many (44%) reporting no involvement in clinical practice. Implications of declining practice among clinical faculty include potentially ineffective instruction in clinical course work, less informed clinical research, and the devaluing of clinical practice in traditional academic settings. Recommendations for facilitating practice among clinical faculty who wish to do so are proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contemporary counseling psychology: Results of a national survey.

Conducted a national survey of counseling psychologists to examine counseling psychology in its current state of development. A 6-page questionnaire, which examined such variables as demographics, professional activities, institutional affiliations, and training satisfaction, was mailed to 980 members of Division 17 (Counseling) of the American Psychological Association (APA). Of these, 716 (73%) usable questionnaires were returned. Counseling psychologists (aged 29–84 yrs) were found (a) to spend the majority of their professional time providing individual psychotherapy, (b) to be primarily eclectic in theoretical orientation, (c) to be increasingly identified with the work setting of private practice, and (d) to be generally satisfied with their graduate and internship training. Additional information about counseling psychologists' professional self-views, research and publication efforts, career satisfaction, and satisfaction with the APA was also obtained. Findings are discussed in relation to the present and future of counseling psychology. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What kinds of APA members belong to APA divisions and to state psychological associations?

A "sample of the membership who responded to the 1962 National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel and which was described earlier [Lockman, 1962] was further analyzed." Division and state members "were older, had higher 1961 gross incomes, and were self-employed to a significantly greater extent than the members of the other 3 subgroups. The division only members indicated research as a primary work activity to a significantly greater extent than the members of the other 3 subgroups. The state only members identified themselves as clinical psychologists to a significantly greater extent than the members of the other 3 subgroups. The subgroups with no division or state association memberships identified themselves as engineering psychologists to a significantly greater extent than the members of the other 3 subgroups." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An occupational analysis of counseling psychology: How special is the specialty?

Conducted an occupational analysis of counseling psychology to determine the work that counseling psychologists do, their feelings toward their work, and their perceptions of how the field is changing. Questionnaire responses of 351 counseling psychologists (aged 28–86 yrs) were evaluated and compared in terms of demographic and work behavior information. Results indicate that Ss were, in general, strongly practice oriented and appeared to see themselves as engaged in psychotherapy and traditionally clinical activities with a reduced emphasis on academic and research-focused behaviors. This finding was particularly true of the younger respondents. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the counseling–clinical distinction and the scientist–practitioner model. It is concluded that counseling psychology appears to be an increasingly applied specialty and that vocational/career counseling appears to be eroding as the foundation of the discipline. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists conducting psychotherapy in 2001: A study of the Division 29 membership.

This study updated similar investigations conducted in 1981 and 1991 on the American Psychological Association Division of Psychotherapy membership to provide a contemporary portrait of psychologists conducting psychotherapy and to chronicle historical trends. Five hundred thirty-eight psychologists (57% response rate) completed a questionnaire in summer 2001 regarding their demographic characteristics, professional activities, theoretical orientations, and career experiences. The results point to an aging and increasingly diverse membership that continues to be employed primarily in private practices (66%) and university settings (14%) and that continues to embrace eclectic/integrative (36%), psychodynamic (21%), and cognitive (16%) orientations. Professional activities have remained quite similar across the past 20 years, with the exception of a notable decline in personality and projective testing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing practices in university and college counseling centers in the United States.

The frequency and scope of psychological test usage in a counseling psychology setting were studied by sending questionnaires to 372 college and university counseling center directors. The 284 usable responses indicated usage of a total of 158 tests; 35 were mentioned by 10% or more of the respondents. The median number of tests mentioned by a center was 14. The 3 most frequently used types of tests were career counseling, led by the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory; personality assessment, led by the MMPI; and mental abilities and aptitude tests (e.g., the WAIS and Differential Aptitude Tests). Differences between these results and those of earlier surveys in clinical settings are discussed. The present respondents reported that counseling psychologists in their centers use career assessment instruments more frequently and projective personality instruments less frequently than do the clinicians. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology and clinical psychology: Some preliminary comparative data.

Comments on L. F. Fitzgerald and S. H. Osipow's (see record 1986-25640-001) occupational analysis and statements regarding the lack of empirical bases to distinguish counseling psychologists from clinical psychologists by presenting findings from the present authors' own comparison of survey data from 716 counseling psychologists and 479 clinical psychologists. These data reveal several similarities and differences regarding counseling and clinical psychologists' theoretical orientations, occupational environments, amount of time devoted to specific professional and psychotherapeutic activities, and identification with a practitioner role. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and work setting differences in career-sustaining behaviors and burnout among professional psychologists.

What factors relate to levels of burnout experienced by male and female psychologists? Five hundred ninety-five psychologists responded to a survey about professional activities, work demands and resources, career-sustaining behaviors, and burnout. Respondents in solo or group independent practice reported a greater sense of personal accomplishment, more sources of satisfaction, fewer sources of stress, and more control at work than respondents in agency settings. In addition, women in independent practice reported less emotional exhaustion than women in agency settings. In general, women tended to give higher ratings to the importance of career-sustaining behaviors; however, 6 strategies emerged as highly important for all respondents: maintain sense of humor, maintain self-awareness/self-monitoring, maintain balance between personal and professional lives, maintain professional identity/values, engage in hobbies, and spend time with spouse, partner, or family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology in behavioral medicine and health psychology.

Counseling psychology can make a contribution to the newly emerging fields of health-related behavioral science, but the nature of that contribution will depend on counseling psychology's willingness to develop new perspectives and practices. The present authors compare 2 of these health orientations, behavioral medicine and health psychology, in an effort to establish counseling psychology's relationship with either of these approaches. Three areas of training and application are surveyed, which the current research suggests will offer opportunities for meaningful participation by counseling psychologists. Such opportunities for important work in these health-related areas will call on counseling psychology's traditional psychoeducational strategies and creative new methodologies and perspectives. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Number of psychologists in Canada: 1970 estimate.

A survey of registered psychologists, members of psychological associations and faculties or departments of psychology showed that there are now at least 3400 psychologists in Canada. This is more than double the number reported in 1966. It was also found that the number of psychologists in academic settings in Canada has more than tripled in this four year period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

We have seen the future, but is it us? The vocational aspirations of graduate students in counseling psychology.

In a recent article, Fitzgerald and Osipow documented a trend away from academic settings and vocational psychology and toward private practice and more clinically oriented tasks (such as long-term psychotherapy) among members of Division 17. In this study we extended the exploration of this issue by examining the vocational aspirations of a national sample of graduate students in counseling psychology, using similar methodology. The results document the increasing "professionalization" of counseling psychology, as well as the continued diminution of vocational psychology and career counseling as salient characteristics of the discipline, and are discussed in terms of the pragmatics of the marketplace and possible negative impact on clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor theoretical orientation as related to intake judgments.

Investigated the relation between the predominant theoretical orientations (self-identified) of counselors and intake interview judgments by asking 12 senior staff counseling psychologists to rate the problems of 1,443 university students who presented themselves for an intake interview on a 5-point scale. Results show that counselors who were humanistically oriented judged that their clients presented more severe educational problems and characterized their clients as more anxious than did the cognitively oriented psychologists. The 2 groups of counselors did not differ in how they judged the severity of personal problems or predicted length of treatment. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapeutic orientation and training: Their relation to the practices of clinical psychologists.

Examined the training and professional practices of 244 clinical psychologists to answer questions pertaining to the nature and quality of training. Past and present therapeutic orientations, amount and adequacy of training, areas of specialization, and work settings were studied in relationship to each other and to therapeutic techniques. A factor analysis yielded 9 "technique" factors. Training was most adequate for those who used psychodynamic approaches and least adequate for those who used techniques bearing on social, cultural, and environmental aspects of mental health. Espoused psychotherapeutic orientation appeared to be unrelated to techniques employed. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)