Developing a VA counselling psychology training program: a case history of university-hospital cooperation.

"… APA-approved training programs have been organized in an increasing number of universities in cooperation with nearby VA training hospitals." The first such university-VA hospital training program involved Columbia University's Teachers College and the VA training unit for Metropolitan New York. The selection of trainees, the integration of university training and VA traineeships, the success of the training, and the role, responsibilities, and privileges of consultants in this particular program are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and severity of presenting problems at a university counseling center: A 6-year analysis.

Professional psychologists on college campuses and independent practitioners in university communities have expressed concerns that the problems of university students who seek counseling have worsened in recent years. Initial client intake data gathered from 2,326 students during 1989 to 1995 at a large Midwestern university counseling center were analyzed using P. P. Heppner et al's (1994) multivariate classification scheme. Patterns of serious client concerns were evident over the 6 years analyzed. Findings suggest that professional training for psychologists who will work with university populations should include training on suicidality, psychopathology, and crisis intervention as well as working within a team or community-based orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The crisis in clinical psychology training.

"The directors of university clinical-psychology training programs and state-level psychologists of the 10 northeastern states met in Princeton in June 1962 to consider joint responsibilities, focusing particular attention on the nature of internships. Analysis of fact sheets, completed by both university and state participants prior to the meeting, indicated an acute shortage of doctoral clinical-psychology candidates and of qualified students accepting internships." Suggestions of participants "included (a) expansion of present doctoral training programs, (b) additional training programs including retooling of current masters' programs, (c) and experimental development of professional schools." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology graduate student training in developmental disability: A Canadian survey.

Psychology graduate student training in developmental disability has received very little attention in North America, and no study has examined the state of training for clinical and counselling psychologists in Canada, despite their involvement in the controlled act of diagnosis and their use of standardised instruments used regularly with this population. This study sought to examine psychology graduate student training in the area of developmental disability across Canada. We invited students from every Canadian Psychological Association accredited Clinical Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology, and Counselling Psychology program to participate in an online survey, distributed through university email lists. Three hundred and three students reported on the developmental disability content within their training and coursework, their perception of the adequacy of that content, and their ideas for program improvement. Results indicated that the majority of students believed it important to have training in developmental disability, yet struggled to obtain adequate didactic and experiential opportunities. The lack of sufficient training was most pronounced for students whose training was adult-focused, but was also high for students with a life span or child focus. We discuss different possibilities for increasing developmental disability training opportunities, including integrating its content within courses on assessment and diagnosis, psychotherapy, and ethics, and providing students with supervision from psychologists who work with this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reenvisioning internship training in clinical and counseling psychology: Developments in the Department of Veterans Affairs system.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system has been a major source of funded, American Psychological Association-accredited psychology internships. The VA system has also been a leader in innovations in internship training. Currently, VA is in the process of redefining the system for allocating funds for psychology internship training, along with funding for all associated health professions. The history and process of that planning are reviewed in this article, along with the current status of plans for the reallocation process. The new system will specifically emphasize training in areas of high clinical priority for VA, particularly primary care, mental health, rehabilitation, and geriatric settings. The new system also will put major emphasis on training in interprofessional settings and training to work effectively as an interprofessional team member. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of assertiveness training and expressive writing on acculturative stress in international students: A randomized trial.

International university students often experience acculturative stress, and culturally appropriate techniques to manage stress are needed. This randomized trial tested the effects of group assertiveness training, private expressive writing, their combination, and a wait-list control on the acculturative stress, affect, and health of 118 international students at an urban North American university. Interventions were conducted at the start of a semester, and assessments were conducted at baseline and at the end of the semester. Group assertiveness training was rated positively by students and led to lower negative affect, whereas expressive writing was less well received and led to higher homesickness and fear, but also to higher positive affect. The combined intervention had no effects, perhaps because the 2 components negated each other. It is concluded that group assertiveness training improves emotional adjustment of international students but that expressive writing has mixed effects and needs further development and study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stressors of professionals and trainees at APA-approved counseling and VA medical center internship sites.

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived stress experienced by professionals and trainees during psychotherapy and supervisory activities at American Psychological Association-approved university counseling center and Veterans Administration (VA) medical center internship sites. One hundred thirty-five staff members (90 professionals, 43 interns, 2 practicum students) from fourteen VA centers and 144 staff members (79 professionals, 37 interns, 28 practicum students) from twelve university counseling centers responded to a questionnaire used to assess perceived stress. In data analysis, we compared the stress of professionals and trainees. In secondary analysis, we compared stressors of staffs at VA and counseling centers. We also investigated beliefs that contributed to the stress experienced. Results indicate that professional staff find their experiences less stressful than do interns, who find their experiences less stressful than do practicum students. Also, VA staff members reported less stress than did counseling staff. Results are compared with previous research in this area, and previous conclusions regarding the universality of stressors are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary Care Psychology Training on Campus: Collaboration Within a Student Health Center.

Applied psychological services are being implemented into the primary care treatment milieu to improve patient treatment and reduce health care costs. Unfortunately, few psychologists have training specifically oriented to working in this setting. A predoctoral training program wherein psychology graduate students may obtain practicum experience working in a student health center on a university campus is described. The theoretical underpinnings of this training are based on the integrated primary care models of K. Strosahl (1997) and K. Strosahl, N. Baker, M. Braddick, M. Stuart, and M. Handley (1997), which emphasize integration of psychological and medical treatment, brief intervention, consultation, and expedited referral for longer term cases. Though many issues remain, integrated primary care offers promise for improved health care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 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)     

Psychology Students' Training in the Management of Potentially Violent Clients.

Client violence has been reported as one of student practitioners' greatest concerns. This study examined counseling and clinical psychology graduate students' exposure to client violence, perceptions of training received in managing potentially violent clients, and confidence in working with this population. Students reported that their training in the management of potentially violent clients was inadequate and that their confidence in working with this population was low. A positive correlation between perception of training and confidence in managing potentially violent clients provides support for more comprehensive training efforts for students in the management of potentially violent clients. Training suggestions are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of analytical information concerning task requirements to increase the effectiveness of skill training.

How can complex tasks in training be related to student ability in such a way that time is an improved application of theory to practice? 324 university students, divided into 3 groups, were engaged in learning how to stay on a target appearing on a radar picture tube. In this tracking they manipulated aircraft type controls. The experimental group of 60 students was given a usual type of training program, plus "standard instructions derived from the analysis of task requirements." This group showed superiority throughout the course of practice. "… changes in learning occurred… rather than just changes in performance." From Psyc Abstracts 36:05:5LE95P. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

University-based graduate training of community agency workers: A pilot collaboration project.

The 1996 Welfare to Work Mandate has had a significant impact on the lives of families that use public assistance. What role can university counseling and psychology training programs play in the facilitation of this mandate that is intended to return welfare recipients to work? The Welfare Reform Act is discussed in relation to an innovative program that provides graduate-level training for bachelor's-level social service workers to meet the challenges of new service-delivery mandates. Relevance of this collaborative effort to professional psychology is explored, and implications for training master's-level graduate students are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of self-control training on study activity and academic performance: An analysis of self-monitoring, self-reward, and systematic-planning components.

Examined the relative efficacy of training in self-monitoring, self-reward, and planning as aids to self-control. 96 university students who, prior to treatment, did not differ on measures of scholastic achievement or study habits, were assigned to 6 groups, including a control group that received no treatment. Ss in the 5 treatment groups received training in a standard study method (SQ3R) and received different degrees of training in the components of self-control. Dependent measures included time spent studying, number of assigned study tasks completed, and change from pretreatment to posttreatment on quiz scores, GPA, and a standard measure (Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes) of study habits. Results indicate that neither training in self-monitoring alone nor self-monitoring plus self-reward techniques yielded significantly better performance than training in study methods alone. The group that received training in self-monitoring, self-reward, and planning strategies significantly outperformed other groups on nearly all measures. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervising International Students: The Role of Acculturation, Role Ambiguity, and Multicultural Discussions.

Little is known about the training needs of international students in professional psychology programs and what supervisors could do to assist these students in their training. This study surveyed 42 international students in programs accredited by the American Psychological Association concerning several training and supervision variables. Results revealed that students who reported being less acculturated also reported less counseling self-efficacy, weaker supervisory working alliances, more role difficulties in supervision, and more discussion of cultural issues in supervision. Implications for supervision and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary care health psychology training: A collaborative model with family practice.

Are you planning a new postdoctoral training program in health psychology? Are your students seeking postdoctoral training in health psychology? Are you looking for a good formal postdoctoral fellowship in health psychology to continue your training? This article describes in detail the philosophy, educational objectives, and learning activities that make up a 13-year-old fellowship approved by the American Psychological Association in clinical health psychology, a model for clinical training in this specialty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguished contribution to education and training in psychology: Philip R. Laughlin.

Presents a brief overview of the career of Philip R. Laughlin. Philip R. Laughlin has made an outstanding contribution to the education and training of professional psychologists through his leadership in the Veterans Administration. As Chairperson for the Psychology Representation Training Committee, he has advised the VA on policy, affiliated programs, distribution of funds budgeted for psychology interns, and related matters. As Chair of the Committee on Psychology Training of the Association of VA Chief Psychologists and as a member of a number of VA committees and task forces, he has been a strong and articulate voice for psychology training in the VA system. He has also served as a member of the APA Committee on Accreditation, the Executive Committee of the Association of Psychology Internship Centers, and as recorder at the National Internship Training Conference in 1987. In all these roles, as well as in his work as Executive Officer for the Iowa Psychological Association, he has worked for the strengthening of support for, and excellence of, internship training in psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical and counseling psychology doctoral trainnees: How students perceive internships.

The authors examined applicants' perceptions of internship site types by specialty affiliation (clinical and counseling psychology). Multidimensional scaling analyses suggest that clinical psychology students focus their attention on internship site prestige, future job opportunities, opportunities for research, degree of client psychopathology and physical illness, and their overall comfort in working with the client population associated with the site type. Counseling students focus on fewer attributes, including site prestige, quality of supervision, degree of client physical illness, and comfort in working with the client population. Specialty affiliation also accounted for systematic differences in internship site preferences. Results are discussed with regard to internship supply-and-demand issues, and implications are offered for student applicants, academic training directors, and internship training directors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Matching students' cognitive responses to teaching skills.

Proposes a model of learning from instruction in which students perceive and cognitively respond to instructional stimuli before engaging learning processes per se. 302 university students were trained to recognize only (structural schema) or to recognize and cognitively respond to (functional schema) discrete teacher skills in lectures. Exp I produced no differences in learning due to overloading working memory and students' alteration or rejection of the schema. Practice with the schema was increased during training for Exp II. Structural training with extra practice enhanced learning more than did functional training, partly for the same reasons as in Exp I. The role of students' perception of instructional stimuli in learning from teaching is examined, and problems for research in which students' processing of instruction is distinguished from learning per se are identified. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical Psychologists Revisited: Comment.

In 1946 the VA, beginning its training program in clinical psychology, sponsored a program of research designed to increase the effectiveness of the procedures used to select trainees. The primary purpose of this five-year research project, which was directed and coordinated through the University of Michigan, was the evaluation of a variety of procedures as predictors of later success in graduate training and professional functioning in clinical psychology. In 1947 and 1948, several hundred college graduates seeking admission to or just entering the four-year VA training program in some 40 universities were evaluated by a wide variety of techniques, and predictions were made concerning their probable success in training and future professional competence. One of the most frequent comments after publication of this work was the concern that our criterion measures were obtained too early in the professional lives of the assessed trainees. In a sense this mirrors our own concern when we stated at that time that, "It is, of course, entirely possible that predictors which look unpromising at this time may have greater validity for predicting later criteria of professional accomplishment and vice versa." In an effort to extend our knowledge we are beginning a follow-up study of the approximately 1,200 persons who participated in some way in the original research. In addition to the original prediction problem, this follow-up stage will also be concerned with attempting to tease out the kinds of variables (personality or situational) which determine whether a clinical psychologist will devote himself primarily to therapy, research, diagnosis, teaching, or administration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)