Distance education in professional training in psychology.

Distance learning methods have had a dramatic effect on undergraduate education and are being incorporated by graduate and professional programs in a variety of areas, including psychology. To address the implications of these developments, an APA task force was organized in 2001 and presented its findings in 2002. This article summarizes key findings of the task force regarding (a) developments in distance education applications to training in professional psychology, (b) significant issues regarding best practices and quality assurance, (c) implications of accreditation standards for programs based on distance methods, (d) licensure and recognition of graduates from online programs, and (e) implications of distance education methods for campus-based programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists’ sexual education and training in graduate school.

The current study explored the sex education and training that clinical and counselling psychologists receive during graduate school, practicum placements and internship. There were 162 psychologists who completed an Internet survey. Although nearly all participants had received some form of education related to sexuality during their graduate training, the depth and breadth of training was limited and was not related to how long clinicians had been practising. Modelling and feedback appeared to be underutilized as training methods. Participants reported more training related to sexual problems (e.g., sexual violence, sexual disorders) than healthy sexuality (e.g., contraception, STIs/STDs). Sexuality-specific training experiences but not participant characteristics (e.g., gender, religiosity) or cognitive-affective factors predicted the amount of sex therapy experience gained during graduate school. This suggests that training programs may be largely responsible for the (limited) amount of sex education and training received by students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and health.

This article traces the historical development of Canadian medicare and its significant influence on shaping not only the clinical services provided within Canada's public health care system but also its major impact on the nation's overall health research agenda. Particular emphasis is placed on how this has influenced the development and role of psychology in the public health care system. It is argued that all psychologists, whether their work is focused on the applied or experimental areas of the discipline, have much to offer Canadians across the entire health care spectrum. Nevertheless, psychological services in the public health care system, and particularly in hospitals, have mainly developed within and continue to be primarily focused around mental health. Services in nonmental health areas of health have been more limited, although their importance is well recognized. The current situation partly reflects the limited training in general health issues that clinical psychologists-in-training generally receive in many graduate school programs in Canada. However, it also reflects the overall influence of medicare on the development of Canada's health care system. Medicare has tended to focus the activities of Canada's health care system primarily on treating illness rather than on preventing it and/or maintaining health. Also, medicare has oriented Canada's health care system mainly toward delivering medical services rather than providing more comprehensive health services (e.g., the "medically necessary" criterion for funding). However, times are changing. The growing emphasis among health policymakers in Canada on illness prevention and health promotion (e.g., the creation of the federal government Public Health Agency of Canada in 2004) will significantly expand psychology's role across all areas of health. Psychology education and training programs are urged to seriously examine whether psychology practitioners and researchers are being adequately prepared at present for the much broader array of future interdisciplinary professional, research, and educational activities and responsibilities that will emerge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does Clinical Psychology Education Enhance the Clinical Competence of Practitioners?

Until now there has been little evidence that graduate programs in clinical psychology make any difference to practitioners' abilities. The authors present a quasi-experimental study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of postgraduate education in clinical psychology. Clinical psychology students from Australian universities were compared with psychology graduates who had elected to practice under Australian provisional registration rules (i.e., without a postgraduate education). Results showed that after 1 extra year of education, postgraduate trainees performed better than those with no postgraduate training, but only to a modest degree. The authors explore the implications of these results for trainers, trainees, and professional organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate Study in Psychology: 1971-2004.

This article traces the evolution of graduate study in psychology in the United States and Canada during the past 3 decades. The authors summarize the 2003-2004 characteristics of graduate programs and departments in psychology and compare these data to those obtained in 1970-1971, 1979-1980, and 1992-1993. The most recent data were obtained from the 2005 edition of Graduate Study in Psychology and were based on 495 institutions, 601 departments, and 1,970 graduate programs. Information is presented for both entire departments (e.g., faculty characteristics, student profiles, admission criteria, Graduate Record Examination and grade point averages, tuition costs, financial assistance) and individual graduate programs (e.g., areas of study, number of applicants, acceptance rates, enrollment statistics, retention rates). Particular attention is devoted to the emergence of PsyD programs in professional psychology, the ascendancy of neuroscience programs in academic psychology, and the steady rise in acceptance rates across programs over the past 33 years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

La psychologie et la santé.

This article traces the historical development of Canadian medicare and its significant influence on shaping not only the clinical services provided within Canada's public health care system but also its major impact on the nation's overall health research agenda. Particular emphasis is placed on how this has influenced the development and role of psychology in the public health care system. It is argued that all psychologists, whether their work is focused on the applied or experimental areas of the discipline, have much to offer Canadians across the entire health care spectrum. Nevertheless, psychological services in the public health care system, and particularly in hospitals, have mainly developed within and continue to be primarily focused around mental health. Services in nonmental health areas of health have been more limited, although their importance is well recognized. The current situation partly reflects the limited training in general health issues that clinical psychologists-in-training generally receive in many graduate school programs in Canada. However, it also reflects the overall influence of medicare on the development of Canada's health care system. Medicare has tended to focus the activities of Canada's health care system primarily on treating illness rather than on preventing it and/or maintaining health. Also, medicare has oriented Canada's health care system mainly toward delivering medical services rather than providing more comprehensive health services (e.g., the "medically necessary" criterion for funding). However, times are changing. The growing emphasis among health policymakers in Canada on illness prevention and health promotion (e.g., the creation of the federal government Public Health Agency of Canada in 2004) will significantly expand psychology's role across all areas of health. Psychology education and training programs are urged to seriously examine whether psychology practitioners and researchers are being adequately prepared at present for the much broader array of future interdisciplinary professional, research, and educational activities and responsibilities that will emerge. (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)     

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)     

Role of the field-dependent and field-independent cognitive styles in academic evolution: A longitudinal study.

To assess hypotheses derived from field-dependence theory about the role of cognitive styles in students' academic development, a group of 1,548 students was followed longitudinally from college entry into graduate/professional school. The Group Embedded Figures Test was administered at college entry. 1,422 Ss were followed through their college careers, and 831 Ss were identified as having applied to graduate or professional school and 550 as having enrolled. In their preliminary choices at college entry, final college majors and graduate/professional school specialties, relatively field-independent students favored impersonal domains requiring cognitive restructuring skills (e.g., sciences) and relatively field-dependent students favored interpersonal domains which do not emphasize such skills (e.g., elementary education). Ss whose college-entry choices were incongruent with their cognitive styles tended to shift to more compatible domains by college graduation or graduate school; Ss with congruent choices tended to remain with their choices. Some tendency was found for students to do better in domains compatible with their cognitive styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate education of Negro psychologists.

The "Council on Psychological Resources in the South was impressed with the dearth of psychologists in the South, particularly Negro psychologists" and appointed a committee "… to study the facts in this regard and to make recommendations for pertinent action." Fifty-six (98.2%) of fifty-seven graduate departments of psychology surveyed answered questionnaires concerning Negro psychologists receiving graduate degrees and the undergraduate origin of these students. "Negro personnel in psychology come in considerable proportion (one-third) from Negro undergraduate schools in the South." "In the process of bridging the gap between inadequate undergraduate training and high level graduate work, Howard University is making an exceptional contribution toward training in scientific and professional psychology." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is there life after graduate school? Coping with the transition to postdoctoral employment.

Suggests that graduate programs in psychology typically do not provide their students with anticipatory socialization concerning entry into a professional setting, the role demands of professional life, and the personal adjustments needed for professional development. The process of adjustment for recent graduates of doctoral programs in psychology, coping strategies for individuals, and possible methods of intervention via training programs and employment settings are discussed. Suggestions are provided that may be helpful to training program directors and to new professionals, their supervisors, and their colleagues. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Challenges to Professional Psychology Education in the 21st Century: Response to Peterson.

Professional psychology education faces many critical challenges brought about by the major changes occurring in the health care arena. This article shows that professional schools and programs have a good record of responding to these challenges and of taking proactive steps sponding to prepare their graduates for new health care roles and delivery systems. Data on admissions to psychology doctoral training programs demonstrate little support for the toral concerns raised by Donald R. Peterson (2003, this issue) about the preparation of students for graduate training in professional programs. Although quality concerns are important to investigate, such examination best resides with portant the American Psychological Association's Committee on Accreditation, which has the promotion of quality and excellence in professional psychology education and training as its major goal and responsibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental planning for a graduate program in psychology.

Presents a flexible framework for an orderly developmental plan for a graduate program in psychology: (1) development of psychology as a scientific discipline, (2) "responsibility for the professional preparation of graduates to perform service functions in society," (3) application of psychological knowledge and methodologies to public affairs, (4) involvement of other disciplines in the psychology of research and instruction, (5) enhancement of the impact of graduate programs on undergraduate education, and (6) division of organizational structures and procedures to "provide effective operational mechanisms for the attainment of program objectives." The graduate program in psychology at Claremont Graduate School is viewed through all 6 criteria. 2 major objectives, involving conceptualization and investigation, and professional preparation are presented and discussed in relation to the past and present program of the department. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing pre-service teachers' training in empirically-validated behavioral instruction practices.

Although many behaviorally-based instructional practices have been shown empirically to promote student achievement, it is unknown to what extent teachers receive adequate training in these methods. This study surveyed master's-level elementary, secondary, and special education students about their coursework and applied training in 25 behavioral instruction practices and principles (e.g., prompting, graphing progress, reinforcement). A total of 110 pre-service teachers participated, representing six different colleges and universities located in the Northeast. Respondents generally reported receiving very little training in behavioral instruction practices and received the least amount of training in academic assessment strategies and instructional programs (e.g., Curriculum-Based Assessment, Direct Instruction). Special education students reported significantly more training in academic assessment than elementary or secondary education students. Implications for school consultation practices, in-service teacher training, and students' academic progress are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 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)     

Education and training in health psychology: Boulder or Bolder.

Reviews previous conferences on graduate education and training in health psychology (HP) as background for a 1983 conference on career and training issues in the field. Criteria characterizing professions are presented. Expected topics at the conference include societal need for orderly development of HP, work functions and roles of health psychologists, predoctoral specialty training, appropriateness of specializing in HP, official sanctioning, education and training settings, model doctoral programs emphasizing HP within a clinical psychology track, apprenticeship, and pre- vs postdoctoral training in HP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)