What we know about predoctoral internship training: A 10-year update.

Ten years ago (Stedman, 1997), I published a review of the extensive body of work related to all facets of the internship enterprise. The current review highlights many positive accomplishments of the last 10 years, including establishing the match, the uniform internship application format, the quantification of selection variables, and a deeper understanding of the training pathway. However, serious problems have surfaced, including the shortfall of internship slots and the impact of economic forces leading some to question the continuing relevance of internship as it currently exists. These issues call for deliberation and decision making by the profession, guided by research, both current and yet to be conducted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supplement to listing of APA-accredited doctoral and predoctoral internship training programs in psychology.

The Committee on Accreditation announces the changes presented here to the list of APA-Accredited Doctoral Programs in Professional (Clinical, Counseling, School) Psychology and Predoctoral Internship Programs in Professional Psychology. The original date of accreditation, listed for each program, is the day on which the program's accredited status became effective. Please note that there is an additional "captive" internship training program at the end of this list. These changes update the listing published in the December 1985 American Psychologist (pp. 1380-1398). Complete lists are available on request from the APA Accreditation Office. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A framework for half-time internship training in psychology.

In the past 50 years, psychology has so heavily emphasized the full-time internship as the preeminent training model that it has often overlooked the benefits of half-time internships for educators, students, the profession, and the populations that psychologists serve. This article makes a case for the nearly forgotten half-time predoctoral internship. The history and context of the half-time internship, culminating in a recent national conference, is presented. The benefits to students, doctoral programs, and the community are described, as well as obstacles and solutions for their implementation. Implications for developing more half-time internships for psychology stakeholders are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Predoctoral Internship: Is Current Training Anachronistic?

The historical context of the predoctoral internship system is contrasted with the current state of graduate training. The internship system emerged because psychology students often acquired insufficient clinical experience during graduate training in the mid-20th century. However, modern graduate training typically involves extensive supervised clinical contact prior to internship. Moreover, traditional internships exact significant financial, psychological, and personal costs from students. The authors conclude with a discussion of recent progress in the internship process, promising alternatives to traditional internship training (i.e., elective internship training, distributed clinical training, and the affiliated internship model), and implications for the profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A growing bottleneck: The internship supply-demand imbalance in 2007 and its impact on psychology training.

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the growing imbalance between the supply of predoctoral internship positions in psychology and the demand for such positions by graduate students. Data from the 2007 Match sponsored by the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) are provided along with the results from several surveys of applicants from that year. An overview of applicant and program participation for the nine APPIC Matches that occurred between 1999 and 2007 is also provided. Implications of the increasing supply-demand imbalance for applicants, graduate and internship programs, and the profession are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA-accredited predoctoral internships for doctoral training in psychology: 1985.

The Committee on Accreditation has accredited the predoctoral internship training programs in psychology offered by the agencies listed in this article. There are three categories of accreditation. Full accreditation is granted to any program that, in the professional judgment of the Committee, meets the criteria in a satisfactory manner. Provisional accreditation is granted to programs making initial application that, in the professional judgment of the Committee, do not meet all the criteria but for which the Committee believes there is a reasonable expectation that they will be met within a foreseeable period of time from the date of the initial site visit. Probation is the category into which a fully accredited program is placed when the Committee has evidence that it is not currently in satisfactory compliance with the criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identifying, obtaining, and completing a predoctoral psychology internship: Research considerations.

The quality of clinical training is a critical factor to consider when selecting a psychology predoctoral internship placement. Yet, research activities are also an integral part of a scientist-practitioner training model. Pursuit of ongoing research training during an internship can impact an individual's professional development and productivity, both during the internship year and beyond. Although many published resources have outlined the steps to obtaining a predoctoral internship, few sources have offered adequate consideration of research goals and training. To address this gap in the existing literature, the present article offers a discussion of research issues relevant to the process of identifying, securing, and completing a predoctoral internship in applied psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"APA-accredited predoctoral internships for doctoral training in psychology: 1996": Correction.

Reports an error in "APA-accredited predoctoral internships for doctoral training in psychology: 1996" by (American Psychologist, 1996[Dec], Vol 51[12], 1287-1305). In the original article, Central Louisiana State Hospital was incorrectly listed under Programs Withdrawing From Accreditation at the End of Training Year 1995-1996 on page 1305. The correct listing is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1996-06917-011.) Lists the agencies whose predoctoral internship training programs in psychology were accredited by the American Psychological Association's (APA's) Committee on Accreditation. For each program, the date of accreditation and the date for the next regularly scheduled site visit are listed. Programs listed as accredited have been judged by the Committee to be consistent substantively and procedurally with the "Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology" in a satisfactory manner. (A correction concerning this article appears in American Psychologist, 1997[Jan], Vol 52[1], 31. On page 1305, Central Louisiana State Hospital was incorrectly listed under "Programs withdrawing from acceditation at the end of training year 1995–1996." It should have been included in the list of APA-accedited professional internships.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Costs of predoctoral clinical psychology internship training in a Canadian health care setting.

Financial pressures on institutional health care in Canada in recent years have led to substantial pressures on institutional psychological services. These pressures have resulted in the elimination or substantial diminution of psychological services in some of these institutions, including the discontinuation of many longstanding psychology internship programs. It is therefore important for psychologists to demonstrate their cost-efficiency in delivering services. However, evidence for this efficiency in the current Canadian context is lacking. This investigation examines the costs and clinical activities of the interns and staff at a major Canadian teaching hospital in order to determine the degree to which the internship is a cost-efficient method of delivering services. The results indicate that there is a small increased cost to having the services delivered through an internship program. The results are viewed as part of a balanced scorecard approach to the evaluation of an internship program. From such a perspective, other factors can be seen as balancing out the slightly increased cost. Also, a number of strategies are outlined for increasing internship cost-efficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA-accredited predoctoral internships for doctoral training in psychology: 1986.

The Committee on Accreditation has accredited the predoctoral internship training programs in psychology offered by the agencies listed here. The original date of accreditation, listed for each program, is the day on which the program's accredited status became effective. The criteria for evaluating these programs can be obtained from the Office of Accreditation. The current criteria for accreditation of internship training programs no longer make the distinction between clinical and counseling internship programs; therefore, the separate listing of accredited programs by professional specialty has been dropped. Readers who desire information on training goals offered at specific programs are encouraged to write directly to the agencies that are listed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural roadmap: Developing cultural learning strategies during internship.

Cultural training can be a difficult topic to address during the internship year and can be defined or approached in many different ways. This article describes a program designed to provide cultural training focused on increasing cultural awareness for psychology interns. The training program outlined is based in part on anthropological research methods and teaches interns a method for learning about different cultures. Interns focus on one cultural group, and go through a flexible sequence of several steps from gathering general information, meeting with community representatives, meeting specific groups of community members, to finally developing a project using the information learned to serve the group studied. An overview of the program is provided, with a recent project example to highlight the process. Reactions from interns have generally been positive. Examples are discussed of how the project has evolved to reflect intern and staff experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The internship supply and demand issue: Graduate student's perspective.

The increasing gap between the number of internship applicants and the number of students applying for internship is of great concern for psychology graduate students and the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS). APAGS sees this concern as multifaceted and has been involved in a variety of efforts to address this imbalance since the early 1990s. This article outlines in greater detail APAGS' view of the internship supply and demand concern, how this problem affects students, and how APAGS has worked to address the issue. It also presents APAGS recommendations for advancing psychology's collective efforts to address this concern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of group psychotherapy training during predoctoral psychology internship.

Do psychologists receive sufficient training in group psychotherapy? Existing literature indicates that comprehensive training standards have not been universally or rigorously followed within the field of psychology. Results of this study indicate that, much like graduate school programs, predoctoral clinical psychology internships also do not routinely provide adequate group therapy training. This deficit in training undermines the proficiency and competency of psychologists who will increasingly be called upon to lead psychotherapy groups in clinical practice. Specific recommendations are provided to training directors who are interested in expanding their group therapy training opportunities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology perspectives on the predoctoral internship supply-demand imbalance: Strategies for problem definition and resolution.

The authors discuss the internship supply demand situation from the perspectives of counseling psychology (CP) training programs by incorporating the viewpoints of CP training directors (TDs), garnered through an online survey. Survey results indicated relatively lower match rates for the preceding year (2007), increased stress among students, and TD concerns about decreased emphases on science training. The authors offer strategies regarding the resolution of this difficult situation, including increased mentoring and individualized practicum planning (program level), the development of captive internship sites and slots, particularly in underserved areas (subspecialty level), and data collection and sharing techniques (field level). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supplement to listing of APA-approved doctoral and internship training programs.

Announces changes in the list of APA-Approved Doctoral Programs in Professional (Clinical, Counseling, and School) Psychology and Predoctoral Internship Programs in Psychology. These changes update the listings published in the December 1980 American Psychologist (pp. 1111- 1118). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The internship crisis: An uncommon urgency to build a common solution.

The internship imbalance is a problem of grave individual and professional concern. As the imbalance continues and deepens, many concerted efforts have been directed toward mitigating the imbalance by addressing factors associated with increased demand and insufficient supply of internship positions. These efforts have required the collaboration of groups and organizations that in the past pursued different aims and agendas. Hatcher (this issue, pp. 126–140) moves these efforts forward greatly, by conceptualizing the internship imbalance as a specific example of a scarce resource shared by a large community (a Common Pool Resource) and by providing a framework for development of a governance structure to manage this common resource. This commentary expands on Hatcher (this issue) by highlighting important structural and attitudinal issues underlying the imbalance problem that are evoked by attempts to address the imbalance, and which must be considered when formulating a comprehensive and integrated solution, particularly one that includes an additional governance structure dependent on interorganizational collaboration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA-accredited predoctoral internships for doctoral training in psychology: 1989.

A list is provided of the predoctoral internship training programs in psychology which have been accredited by the Committee on Accreditation within the American Psychological Association (APA). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA-approved predoctoral internships for doctoral training in clinical and counseling psychology: 1977.

Lists the internships for doctoral training approved by the American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation for 1977. The current criteria for accreditation of internship training programs no longer make the distinction between clinical and counseling internship programs; therefore, the separate listing of approved programs by professional specialty has been dropped. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Program disparities in unmatched internship applicants.

Predoctoral internship represents an important capstone in the training of clinical and counseling psychologists. However, in the past decade there has been growing concern over the number of applicants to internship who have not been matched to an internship site. We investigated the scope of the internship match problem by assessing program-level contributions to the number of unmatched internship applicants. Results from analysis of the 2000–2006 internship match report indicated that 15 programs (less than 4% of the total number of programs under analysis) contributed over 30% of the unmatched applicants for that same time period. Suggestions are made for implementing new policies aimed at limiting future internship site supply–demand disparities and ensuring quality internship placements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)