Development of professional identity in Black clinical psychology students.

Professional identity was conceived and explored via a sample of Black clinical psychology students. Theoretical perspective, values, and career goals were identified as the central aspects of professional identity. Sociopolitical professional identity (SPI) was of special interest; it was defined as a pattern of interdependence between sociopolitical values and other aspects of professional identity. SPI, which develops during the process of professional socialization (i.e., training), was predicted to occur more frequently in programs with a greater number of program resources relevant to work with culturally diverse populations. There was some evidence that significant and meaningful interdependent relations existed among the SPI variables, but there was no convincing evidence of an association between resource use and SPI. Nonetheless, the students used and apparently valued program resources such as Black faculty and culturally diverse training experiences. Other findings indicated that students were shaped by their training experiences, often in a way that reflected the dominant perspectives in clinical psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Program evaluation as applied to the goals of a psychology department clinic.

A comprehensive evaluation of a psychology department clinic in relation to its goals, in which goal definition was based on observations of clinical faculty members and students, demonstrated that, overall, clinic goals were determined by departmental priorities that put training before both research and service. An evaluation instrument composed of 5 segments to measure goal attainment is discussed in terms of its assessment of graduate students' evaluation of training through the clinic, faculty members' views of the effects of the training program, adequacy of the training program as reflected in postdoctoral accomplishments of former students, community awareness and attitudes regarding the clinic, and clients' satisfaction with services. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training practices in consultation: A national survey of clinical, counseling, industrial/organizational, and school psychology faculty.

Faculty who educate and train psychology students in consulting from clinical, counseling, school, and industrial/organizational graduate programs were identified via mail from department chairs and program directors. Of 197 faculty members identified, 89 (46.9% response rate) completed a detailed survey questionnaire about demographics and professional consulting activities, including teaching practices in consulting in their graduate program. Results were somewhat encouraging within industrial/organizational and school psychology programs and least positive in counseling/clinical programs, especially clinical programs. Detailed results are presented along with some implications for future graduate training in consulting psychology. A call is made for convening a national conference on educational standards in consulting psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate training in clinical psychology: Student perspectives on selecting a program.

Although graduate programs in clinical psychology spend considerable energy and resources selecting students, there is limited information regarding the factors students consider important when they choose a training program. A review of recent literature found one study that looked at how first-year graduate students rated the importance of a number of factors in their decision-making process when selecting a clinical psychology training program (Walfish, Stenmark, Shealy, & Shealy, 1989). The current study extends this research by comparing reports from first-year graduate students enrolled in traditional “Boulder model” programs with those enrolled in professional “Vail model” programs. As part of a larger survey project, students answered questions about factors they considered important when they made decisions about applying to and selecting a graduate program to attend. Responses from students enrolled in traditional programs were compared with students attending professional programs. These differences are discussed, as well as their implications for program directors engaged in student recruitment and selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality assurance standards in the education of psychologists: Reliability and validity of objective comprehensive examinations developed at a freestanding professional school.

Test data were obtained over a 10-year period from 714 Ss and found that comprehensive examinations developed at a nonuniversity clinical training program were highly reliable and significantly correlated with (a) undergraduate and graduate grades, (b) clinical competency evaluations, (c) dissertations ratings, and (d) licensing examination scores. Orthogonal, or slightly negative, relations were obtained between nonacademic admissions variables and comprehensive examination performance. Findings demonstrate the commitment of a large freestanding professional school to maintain responsible academic standards show the utility of standardized multiple-choice tests for the appraisal of graduate-level knowledge of psychology and provide support for the profession's claim that requisite scholarly knowledge of psychology is related to competent clinical practice. The development of a national examination for professional school students is suggested. (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 graduate research training environment in professional psychology: A multilevel investigation.

Very little program-level research on psychology graduate research training environments (RTEs) exists despite the RTE being a program-level (vs. student-level) construct. In the current study, the authors investigated correlates of programs' RTEs, including characteristics of the students, the faculty, and the programs themselves. Proportional stratified sampling of American Psychological Association-accredited PhD programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology yielded data from 40 programs. Students and faculty in those programs completed Internet questionnaires, and additional faculty and program characteristics were coded. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that programs with positive student-rated RTEs had faculty who also viewed the RTE as positive and had satisfying faculty–student relations. These programs also had students with higher levels of research interest and stronger advisory alliances, yet within-program student differences in the RTE explained more variance in these student characteristics than did between-programs differences. This research supports the value of examining the RTE at both the student and program levels, and it suggests that training interventions ought to occur at both levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sport psychology training within a clinical psychology program and a department of intercollegiate athletics.

Many applicants to clinical and counseling psychology programs are interested in receiving the training needed to practice competently in the professional specialty area of sport psychology. In this article, the authors describe a collaborative training and service relationship between an APA-accredited clinical psychology program and an intercollegiate athletics department. Sport Psychology Services provides performance enhancement, program evaluation, and mental health services to the athletic department. In return, graduate students receive applied training, financial support, and opportunities to conduct research. The authors present program evaluation data and offer practical guidelines to graduate programs wishing to establish similar training opportunities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Twenty years of practitioner training in psychology.

Reviews the history of the professional school movement since the 1960's. It is suggested that major research universities are unlikely to establish practitioner programs in psychology and that education of most practitioners in psychology will take place in professional schools and small departments. It is noted that the doctoral degree granted upon completion of graduate study depends on the administrative location of the program in which graduate study is done. Graduates of scientist–practitioner programs and graduates of practitioner programs perform about equally well, and the curricula of professional schools and scientist–professional programs are more alike than different. It is concluded that the main differences between practitioner programs and scientist–professional programs lie in the attitudes and interests of faculty and students and that under some conditions the cultures of science and practice can be blended. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching tomorrow's psychology students: Who pays the piper?

Pressures likely to influence the teaching of psychology in the 1980s include the declining number of 18-yr-old students, student interest in clinical psychology, the emergence of professional schools of psychology, the awarding of credit for life experience to midcareer adult students, and the tightening of the job market for doctoral students. The relevance of these pressures to the use of student evaluations of teaching, to the training of graduate students, and to the undergraduate curriculum is discussed. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent validity of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory for graduate students in counseling.

Examined the vocational interests of 114 graduate counseling psychology trainees and the concurrent validity of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) for this group. Ss were administered the SCII, and a subgroup of 43 Ss completed a questionnaire assessing satisfaction with their graduate program, interests in various types of coursework, and preferences for future professional employment. Results generally support the concurrent validity of the SCII in a group of counseling trainees but also indicate differences in the ordering of SCII Holland themes in this group vs psychologists in general. Relationships between certain SCII scores and Ss' preferences concerning coursework and future employment were found. Implications of the findings for both the training and the employment of counseling psychology trainees are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA-accredited doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology: 1983.

The Committee on Accreditation has accredited the doctoral training programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology that are conducted by the institutions listed below. In the institutions listed, the accredited programs are directed by the department of psychology unless otherwise indicated. All programs, unless otherwise noted, are PhD programs. Programs that have not requested evaluation, and programs that have been evaluated but not accredited, are not included in the list. Readers desiring information on training goals and approaches of specific programs are encouraged to write directly to the departments in which the programs are offered. The criteria for evaluating these programs can be obtained from the Accreditation Office. There are three categories of accreditation. Full accreditation is awarded to any program that, in the professional judgment of the committee, meets the criteria in a satisfactory manner. Provisional accreditation is awarded 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 the program is not currently in satisfactory compliance with the criteria. Inclusion of an institution in this list indicates accreditation of doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, school, and combined professional-scientific psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selected outcomes of accredited programs.

For a representative sample of 149 accredited doctoral programs, 3 types of outcomes are reported: activities of students, time to degree, and employment settings of graduates. Comparisons of activities on the basis of program specialty area yielded a difference only for the activity of providing professional services (with clinical?>?counseling?>?school). Comparisons on the basis of degree type (PhD, PsyD) yielded differences for all activities except providing professional services, with PhD students and faculty reporting higher median levels of involvement. Students in PhD programs require significantly longer (approximately 1.5 years) to complete their degrees than do PsyD program students. Graduates' employment settings tend to be consistent with the specialty area of their doctoral programs with interesting shifts from initial to subsequent employment. Recommendations are made for expanding outcome assessment of graduate education and training in professional psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Boulder Model: History, rationale, and critique.

Although the current philosophy of education in clinical psychology allows for the existence of a program of training clinical psychologists who primarily want to be practitioners in conjunction with the more traditional scientist-practitioner (Boulder model) program, the controversy over the value of the 2 types of program continues. The criticism of the Boulder model is that the rationale for requiring clinical psychology students to learn to do research as well as train to be clinicians was spurious; the Boulder model trains students as researchers, a role that is incompatible with their interests and abilities. The history of the development of the Boulder model is reviewed together with data regarding the personality traits, interests, and abilities of people interested in research as opposed to service work. Findings indicate that the objections of the critics are well founded. (6 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A training model to facilitate professional effectiveness in power- and sex-salient situations.

Designed a brief, experiential training model to help 36 professional psychology students examine both internal and external constraints to flexible use of power and to increase their effectiveness in power- and sex-salient situations. Ss' evaluations indicate that this model, which was offered as an elective course in a professional training setting, was successful in achieving its goals. The rationale for this model and the steps in its design are described. The model may be considered as a supplement to the socialization process of any professional training program. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multilevel school consultation training: Preliminary program evaluation.

Recommends the acquisition of consultation skills for school psychologists but notes that this is a neglected area in the majority of training programs. To meet the need for training prototypes, a multilevel consultation training sequence with matched field experiences graduated by learning goals and previous skill development is proposed. Specifically, Level 1 of the consultation program and its matched field experience, consultation with student teachers, is evaluated as a viable means within a university setting by which novice consultants can practice diverse consultation skills. Evaluation data from 12 consultation students (doctoral candidates), student teachers, and student teaching supervisors support the effectiveness of the program for both consultants and consultees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trainees' experiences with peers having competence problems: A national survey.

Trainees with problems of professional competence (TPPC) are a significant phenomenon in psychology education and training. Although most faculty and students are able to identify at least one TPPC over a 5-year period (Forrest, Elman, Gizara, & Vacha-Haase, 1999), investigations have typically focused on trainers; trainees' perspectives are relatively unexplored. We used survey research to assess perspectives on TPPC from 321 trainees in counseling, clinical, school, and combined psychology programs from masters' through predoctoral internship training levels. Questions targeted (a) training on TPPC and awareness of program policies, (b) general beliefs about faculty/supervisor/peer awareness and action related to TPPC, (c) specific experience with TPPC, (d) characteristics of the experience with a TPPC, (e) impact of program dynamics, (f) faculty/supervisor/peer actions with specific TPPC instances, (g) making a decision to take action, (h) personal and systemic impact of taking action, and (i) not taking action. Results revealed that 44% of students were aware of a TPPC. Participants were confident that trainers were aware of TPPC, yet less certain that trainers would address TPPC. Similarly, participants held more confidence that their peers were aware of TPPC than they were that peers would take action. Although more than half of participants reported taking action, a majority did not draw on their training when doing so. Common action strategies included consulting with faculty/supervisors and peers, venting with peers, or approaching the TPPC. Implications for training are discussed, including attention to training related to TPPC and understanding faculty and student roles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Terminating students from professional psychology programs: Criteria, procedures, and legal issues.

Reviews legal decisions regarding student dismissals that are relevant for professional psychology programs and outlines a legally defensible procedure that considers student and faculty concerns. It is suggested that the role of clinical judgment in evaluation, procedures for evaluating students, the ability to predict professional suitability from early graduate school behavior, and the impact of students' cultural and value differences are among issues still needing to be addressed by professional psychology programs. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application of the competency model to clinical health psychology.

In response to the growing emphasis on defining professional competence within applied psychology (e.g., clinical, neuropsychology, counseling, school), in 2007 American Psychological Association Division 38 (Health Psychology) sponsored a summit meeting with a specific focus on revisiting the standards of graduate curricula and training in clinical health psychology. Using the cube model of core competency domains of professional psychology as a framework, summit participants were charged with identifying the foundational and functional competencies expected of a well-trained, entry-level clinical health psychologist. As a product of these discussions, the present article is presented as an initial effort to identify the competencies and begin the discussion in clinical health psychology. As such it is likely to be of interest to a wide audience, including clinical training programs with an existing or planned emphasis in clinical health psychology, practitioners interested in acquiring the competencies required to practice as a clinical health psychologist, and students evaluating potential graduate and postgraduate training options in clinical health psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)