A comparison of recent german and american training programs for subprofessional workers in psychology.

The training of subprofessional workers has become an increasingly popular solution for the serious manpower shortage in clinical psychology in North America. The present paper reviews a recently published Vocational Guide for Female Psychological-Technical Assistants which was developed by the Professional Association of German Psychologists. The history and present status of the training program, the responsibilities of the technologists, their practical and theoretical training and their certification are described and compared with similar programs in the United States. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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

This article provides a supplement to the listing of APA-approved doctoral and internship training programs. A number of changes in the list of APA-Approved Doctoral Programs in Professional (Clinical, Counseling, and School) Psychology and in the list of APA-Approved Internship Programs in Professional Psychology are announced by the Committee on Accreditation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical psychology graduate students' perceptions of their scientific and practical training: A Canadian perspective.

The scientist-practitioner model is the most commonly used training modality in Canadian clinical psychology graduate programmes. Despite pervasive endorsement throughout Canadian psychology programmes, there is a paucity of data available on Canadian student opinions of the model's implementation. The current study assessed 134 students from 9 provinces with a 38-item questionnaire developed by the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology for assessing students' perceptions about the quantity, quality, and breadth of science training in their clinical psychology doctoral programmes. Most students described their programs as providing a mix of research and clinical focus, with slightly more weight given to research. Science training was reported as very important to students, with indications they receive a good amount of high-quality training in science. Moreover, there was a high level of agreement between desired levels of science training and the science training received. Implications for future research and training are discussed. (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)     

Men's issues in doctoral training: A survey of counseling psychology programs.

The study of men and masculinity is an important clinical competency that needs to be integrated into psychology training. The extent to which the psychology of men has been integrated into applied psychology training programs is unclear. Using counseling psychology as an example of one discipline's integration, the authors examined current training in the psychology of men. One hundred 60 faculty members participated in this study. Results suggest that training practices in the psychology of men are limited in counseling psychology doctoral training programs; faculty interest in the psychology of men was positive, and faculty members viewed psychology of men as an important area of research and training in counseling psychology; and approximately 80% of the participants regard the psychology of men as a multicultural issue. A case vignette illustrates implications for training and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Up close and personal: An inside look at university training programs in school psychology.

I am pleased to have the opportunity as Guest Associate Editor to build on the outstanding special feature of Professional School Psychology, "Up Close and Personal: An Inside Look at University Training Programs in School Psychology" initiated by Richard A. Weinberg (1986). By adding the school psychology program of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to the list of exemplary university training programs previously featured in the journal, we hope to maintain the established goal "to take a focused look at various programs through the eyes of the educators who have guided their direction" (Weinberg, 1986, p. 61). The feature's focus on American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited school psychology programs in a historical context provides a fascinating perspective on the intellectual history of programs and individual efforts to shape their academic and professional standards. Perhaps as we continue to feature school psychology programs, the focus on the future directions of each program will reveal the innovative changes emerging from the crucial scientific and practical issues in which professional psychology is currently engulfed. (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)     

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)     

The utility of interdisciplinary training and service: Psychology training on a psychiatry consultation-liaison service.

Increasing numbers of psychologists work in medical settings because of the growing acceptance of a biopsychosocial approach to illness. Do training programs prepare sufficient numbers of graduates to function effectively in medical settings? The authors describe the process of adding an inpatient medical-surgical consultation-liaison (C-L) service to a psychology internship's training rotations, the learning objectives used, and issues in the preparation of trainees for work in medical settings. Psychology trainees added significant capacity to the C-L service. These data may help facilitate the development of C-L training experiences for other programs (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applied training programmes of psychology in Canada: A survey.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 12(2) of Canadian Psychologist Psychologie Canadienne (see record 2007-02141-045). Page 49 contains an error regarding the available staff for applied training programs at the University of Victoria. The correct figure under column 7 (staff, full-time, psychology) should not be 40. Instead the correct figure for 1971-72 should be 11; under "staff, other departments", 4 should be listed; under "staff, part-time", 1 should be listed; under "staff in applied settings", 3 should be listed.] A survey of professional applied training programmes in the Canadian universities was carried out in 1969. Reported were 29 programmes: 17 in clinical psychology, 4 each in counselling and school psychology, one each in educational psychology and learning disabilities and 2 in experimental psychopathology. The number of places in the universities was related to the expected manpower requirements. Information was also given concerning the numbers of teachers in each programme, the types of applied settings utilized, and the different courses offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A qualitative examination of graduate advising relationships: The advisee perspective.

Sixteen 3rd-year counseling psychology doctoral students were interviewed about their relationships with their graduate advisors. Of those students, 10 were satisfied and 6 were unsatisfied with their advising relationships. Satisfied and unsatisfied students differed on several aspects of the advising relationship, including (a) the ability to choose their advisors, (b) the frequency of meetings with their advisors, (c) the benefits and costs associated with their advising relationships, and (d) how conflict was dealt with in the advising relationship. Furthermore, all of the satisfied students reported that their advising relationships became more positive over time, whereas many of the unsatisfied students reported that their advising relationships got worse (e.g., became more distant) over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meehl revisited: A look at paradigms in psychology.

Comments on Meehl's (see record 1979-25042-001) article on the nature of psychological debates. The author is in agreement with Meehl that there is a need to reconsider how research is designed and carried out within psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of Canadian psychology departments based on citation and publication counts: A comment.

Comments on the article by A. R. Buss (see record 1976-26634-001), which purports to evaluate Canadian psychology departments in terms of productivity and impact upon the discipline. Publication counts and citation counts from the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) were tabulated for each staff member and totaled for each department. The author suggests that his exercise will give us some lessons in the methodology of the sociology of science, as it pertains to the problem of evaluating the quality of departments within a discipline. While it is questionable whether such a unitary evaluation can be done at all, more importantly the article raises two other questions: What are the possible purposes of such a task? Has Buss's article done an adequate job of doing the task regardless of purpose? With reference to the first question, it is virtually impossible to think of any legitimate use to which such finding could be put. On the question as to whether the Buss evaluations are well done, a few obvious points are listed. One of these is Buss's choice of the SSCI, which he admits does not include citations in some important psychological journals. In summary, the Buss paper includes a set of evaluations which serve no useful purpose. Furthermore, they are complete with numerous sources of known error, some of them systematic. The author has added to this all the problems of choice of summarizing values. The reviewer takes offense at his taxes being used for so shallow a purpose. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diversity training in graduate school: An exploratory evaluation of the Safe Zone project.

How can psychologists and graduate students become more affirmative of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues? Safe Zone is a diversity-training program to increase sensitivity toward, knowledge of, and advocacy for LGBT populations and issues that affect them. In this exploratory study, the implementation of Safe Zone is described within a school of professional psychology; its effectiveness was assessed by self-reported behavioral and attitudinal changes and from participant evaluations. Results were encouraging with regard to the goals of Safe Zone and its adaptation to institutions interested in improving relations with the LGBT community, but additional empirical studies are needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate training for managed care: A national survey of psychology and social work programs.

Although there is much discussion within the professional literature about the training needs of graduate students in response to managed care, little empirical research exists that assesses the extent to which graduate programs provide training opportunities in this field. The present study surveyed graduate program training directors in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, and social work about the training opportunities available for their graduate students. Almost 60% of the respondents indicated that they provide some type of training related to managed care. Implications and applications of these results are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gatekeeping or gate slippage? A national survey of counseling educators in Australian undergraduate and postgraduate academic training programs.

Counseling educators fulfill a complex and demanding role as gatekeepers. The role serves a quality control function and involves ethical and educational responsibilities; it also interfaces with a confounding array of issues. This study was undertaken to establish how counseling educators view and experience the gatekeeping function, and to identify the mechanisms implemented by training programs to facilitate educators in the gatekeeping process. Educators from across Australia involved in counseling training at the bachelor's degree or higher award level were surveyed (n = 63, response rate = 34%). Findings suggested that educators are highly motivated by their sense of responsibility toward the counseling profession when assessing students. Nevertheless, their gatekeeping efforts are often compromised having been predominantly impeded by a lack of clear evidence of the problematic issues and leniency biases within their programs. In addition, gatekeeping efforts have not been generally supported by program initiatives, such as written policy and procedures, which are recognized to be facilitative of the gatekeeping process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critical analysis of systemic problems with psychology pre-doctoral internship training: Contributing factors and collaborative solutions.

The concern in professional psychology about the growing disparity between the numbers of available internship positions and applicants prompts reevaluation of the contributing factors and potential solutions. The problem is more than the "supply and demand" metaphor implies and involves issues of funding, a disconnect between internship and doctoral programs, and need for innovation in training. Solutions include creation of internship positions, advocacy, and a national conference for changing the infrastructures of training, reimbursement and credentialing in psychology and in other systemic forces. Changes requiring a paradigm shift in psychology training are envisioned in order to address systemic problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The graduate student viewpoint on internship preparedness: A 2008 council of university directors of clinical psychology student survey.

To better understand the graduate student viewpoint on quality of preparation provided by graduate programs in terms of the internship application process, the current study surveyed students enrolled in member programs of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP). Six hundred seventy-four students completed a questionnaire designed to assess perceptions regarding preparation for the internship application process, relative prioritization of individual application components, and faculty behaviors that contribute to student anxiety related to the application process. Results demonstrated that student subgroups based on internship status (i.e., those who have not yet applied, current applicants, and current interns) significantly differed on many issues related to internship preparation. The findings suggest that graduate programs are not placing enough emphasis on the conveying of internship-related information early in a student's training. Furthermore, the findings highlight training techniques and faculty behaviors that can be adopted by programs to increase preparedness and reduce anxiety among applicants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

First impressions: A multicultural content analysis of professional psychology program Web sites.

With the ascension of the Internet as an information resource, Web sites are likely to be the first exposure applicants have to specific programs. The authors evaluated professional psychology program Web sites for ethnic and sexual orientation minority content, discovering that diversity content of Web sites was considerably less than in previously examined paper application materials. Clinical psychology programs were more likely to state a commitment to diversity training while counseling psychology programs were more likely to state a diversity minor/track. School psychology programs had the lowest diversity content on their Web pages. This article explores how graduate psychology program Web sites communicate multicultural information and offers recommendations on using the World Wide Web as a cost-effective tool to attract a diverse student body. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma: A tool for training a trauma-informed workforce.

Recognition of the nationwide high prevalence of psychological trauma in children and adolescents, combined with increasing awareness of the far-reaching adverse consequences of childhood trauma, have led to calls to develop a trauma-informed mental health workforce. We describe the initial pilot test of the Core Concepts portion of the Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma, as conducted in a large graduate school of social work. The Core Curriculum uses detailed case vignettes of trauma-exposed youth and families, combined with problem-based learning methods, to promote two primary learning aims: (a) to enhance the development of foundational trauma-related conceptual knowledge, and (b) to accelerate the acquisition of trauma-informed clinical reasoning and clinical judgment. Vignettes are presented in segments to simulate gathering, organizing, drawing meaning from, and making decisions based on information in professional practice. After each segment, the facilitator helps learners to summarize relevant facts, develop hunches and hypotheses, identify learning issues, and plan next steps. The Curriculum was very favorably received by students and was associated with marked increases in self-efficacy in applying the Core Concepts to work with trauma-exposed youth and families. We discuss ways in which the Curriculum can be used, especially as a foundation for training in specific evidence-based treatment protocols, to help prepare a national mental health workforce capable of implementing trauma-informed evidence-based practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)