Psychologists and psychological services in urban police departments--A national survey.

The purpose of the present study was to survey urban police departments and determine the amount and type of psychologist involvement. The major aims of the study were to ascertain the number of psychologists employed, the characteristics of these psychologists, and the services they provided. One hundred seventy-four copies of a questionnaire were sent to cities throughout the nation. The survey assessed, in broad terms, the role that psychologists and psychological services have in police departments today. A 74% return (N = 130) of the questionnaires was obtained within 3 months of the initial mailing. Results show that the more populated an area, the more psychologists employed: Only 11% and 10%, respectively, for the two smaller urban groups, but 18% and 39% for the two larger groups (in ascending order). Full-time and part-time psychologists are employed in approximately equal numbers, but, on a national scale and for all population groups, neither is used as frequently as consultants. The majority (74%) of psychologists employed are at the PhD level. Most have a clinical background, though training in counseling or industrial psychology was significantly involved. Two points represent major findings of the study: the use of consultants rather than full-time employees, and the relatively great amount of time spent in applicant screening. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Psychological services provided within Veterans Administration nursing homes": Correction to Kupke.

Reports an error in "Psychological services provided within Veterans Administration nursing homes" by Thomas Kupke (Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 1986[Jun], Vol 17[3], 185-190). In this article, the copyright information was incorrect. The correct copyright information is included in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1986-28163-001.) Surveyed the nature and scope of psychological services provided within 67 Veterans Administration nursing facilities to examine the emerging professional domain of the nursing home psychologist. Data regarding service delivery models, use of time, assessment and treatment services, multidisciplinary team activities, staff and student training, and research are provided. The profile of the ideal nursing-home psychologist that emerges from this survey is that of a well-rounded psychologist capable of rendering a full range of assessment, treatment, and consultative services while also functioning as a treatment team member, a teacher, a program developer, and a researcher. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological services in relation to health insurance plans.

"Our preliminary investigations revealed that it is almost impossible to make any kind of general statement about the position of clinical psychologists in the insurance picture at the present time." The Board of Professional Affairs recommends that future efforts be directed at gaining general acceptance of provisions for covering psychological services when deemed necessary by those having medical responsibility for the treatment of the claimant. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2AK24W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological services in state schools for delinquent boys.

A discussion of the results of a survey sent to 68 institutions which serve a male population between the ages of 12 and 18 and which are training schools, not penal institutions. The discussion covers the following topics: number of schools employing psychologists, training level of the psychologists, ratio of boys to psychologists, and the need for workers in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologist and hospital policy: A report from the real world.

Discusses the hospital as a "city-state" and how psychologists' skills can be applied there. Decision making by hospital staff is discussed in terms of meta-issues. Psychologists have useful hospital skills apart from the traditional roles of assessment, therapy, and program evaluation. These skills include the knack of conceptualizing complex and dynamic situations and of using their own reactions as an instrument to understand special interests involved, shift the balance of incentives, and improve communication. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Being fit: The ethics of practice diversification in performance psychology.

The ethics of practice diversification in the field generically described as performance psychology--including sport psychology, organizational consulting, and performing arts psychology--is examined. Since the field is in the process of development and psychologists come to this type of practice from a variety of paths, ethical issues in this type of practice bear particularly careful attention. This article reviews the primary ethical issues involved, including preparation for diversified practice; competence; interpersonal and relational issues; and presentation to the public. Currently emerging concerns are also discussed. The article concludes with specific suggestions for the practitioner interested in this field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clarification on Psychological Treatments and Psychotherapy.

In this article, the author responds to a set of comments (see record 2005-11834-009; 2005-11834-010; 2005-11834-011) on his original article, "Psychological Treatments" (see record 2004-21168-001). The author responds to each comment. Hal Arkowitz (2005) misread the proposed distinction between "psychological treatments" and "psychotherapy" by presuming that the author was implying that the former is evidence based and the latter is not. Kwekkeboom et al. (2005), representing the nursing profession, noted quite correctly that nurses often deliver psychological treatments on the frontlines of primary care and are independently licensed to provide nursing services, including many approaches that could be categorized as "psychological." Ahmed and Boisvert (2005) agreed that psychological treatments are a core strength of psychology and also go on to provide additional interesting examples and to identify other areas of practice in which psychologists may be uniquely qualified. Overall, the author notes that only certain well-defined pathologies will be included in any health care system, and treatment for these conditions will increasingly need to be based on evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology in extremis: Preventing problems of professional competence in dangerous practice settings.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 42(2) of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (see record 2011-08009-001). The title and authors for the first section of the article, beginning of the first column on page 95, were inadvertently omitted. The section should have begun with the following: “In Extremis Practice: Ensuring Competence During and After Deployment to a Combat Zone,” by W. Brad Johnson and Shannon J. Johnson.] When a psychologist provides services in a dangerous context—a work setting defined by persistent threat to the psychologist's own personal safety and well-being—the psychologist is said to practice in extremis. Psychologists who routinely function in extremis, such as those in correctional, disaster response, military, and police psychology—among other specialties—may be at increased risk for troubling experiences such as direct or vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue, and empathy failure. Over time, in extremis experiences may contribute to decrements in professional competence. When psychologists become aware of personal problems that interfere with their work, they must take steps to ameliorate the problem while protecting consumers. In this Focus on Ethics, we discuss the difficulty inherent in self-identifying and correcting problems of professional competence when working in a high-threat environment. Three expert commentaries further elucidate in extremis competency concerns from the perspective of disaster response, police, and military psychology. The authors provide numerous recommendations for helping psychologists to ensure ongoing competence in in extremis jobs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology Review, School Psychology Quarterly and Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation Editors Collaborate to Chart School Psychology's Past, Present, and "Futures".

This introduction will briefly describe the special journal issues that will be offered in Psychology in the Schools (PITS), School Psychology issues Review (SPR), School Psychology Quarterly (SPQ), and Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation (JEPC) on topics related to the conference. For almost a half-century, students in school psychology have investigated the "Boulder" and "Thayer" conferences, studying and exploring our foundation as scientist-practitioners and brooding over the "school" in school psychology. In a notable alliance, SPR and SPQ are publishing the proceedings of the conference jointly. As part of the School Psychology Futures Conference: Special Journal Issues se- series, Psychology in the Schools will publish a special issue entitled: Shortage of ries, School Psychologists in the April 2004 issue. School psychology quarterly will also be sponsoring a special issue addressing the faculty shortage in school psychology and related difficulties. Consultation emerged as a major thread throughout the School Psychology Futures Conference as participants brainstormed problems and solutions to meet the critical issues faced by school professionals as they work towards improving educational and mental health outcomes for children and families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond law and ethics: A proposal for collaboration in psychological practice.

Few below-standard activities result from deliberate choice. Psychologists in practice should have regular contact with some of their colleagues; the level of performance will be higher if psychologists do not operate in isolation from professional colleagues. Institutionalizing small collaborating groups of psychologists is desirable on the assumption that the groups would take up at the point where training procedure left off. Other advantages are increased opportunities for discussing problems, clarifying issues, getting help, checking judgments with others, and a continuous re-examination of one's own professional technique. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Psychology in extremis: Preventing problems of professional competence in dangerous practice settings": Correction to Johnson et al. (2011).

Reports an error in "Psychology in extremis: Preventing problems of professional competence in dangerous practice settings" by W. Brad Johnson, Shannon J. Johnson, Glenn R. Sullivan, Bruce Bongar, Laurence Miller and Morgan T. Sammons (Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 2011[Feb], Vol 42[1], 94-104). The title and authors for the first section of the article, beginning of the first column on page 95, were inadvertently omitted. The section should have begun with the following: “In Extremis Practice: Ensuring Competence During and After Deployment to a Combat Zone,” by W. Brad Johnson and Shannon J. Johnson. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-04544-013.) When a psychologist provides services in a dangerous context—a work setting defined by persistent threat to the psychologist's own personal safety and well-being—the psychologist is said to practice in extremis. Psychologists who routinely function in extremis, such as those in correctional, disaster response, military, and police psychology—among other specialties—may be at increased risk for troubling experiences such as direct or vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue, and empathy failure. Over time, in extremis experiences may contribute to decrements in professional competence. When psychologists become aware of personal problems that interfere with their work, they must take steps to ameliorate the problem while protecting consumers. In this Focus on Ethics, we discuss the difficulty inherent in self-identifying and correcting problems of professional competence when working in a high-threat environment. Three expert commentaries further elucidate in extremis competency concerns from the perspective of disaster response, police, and military psychology. The authors provide numerous recommendations for helping psychologists to ensure ongoing competence in in extremis jobs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication and records: Hippa issues when working in health care settings.

To refocus awareness on the original mandate of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) regulations, this article will review record keeping requirements and examine patient-doctor and interdisciplinary communication as a way to improve the health care consumer's trust in the privacy of their personal information while facilitating integrated and fluid health care delivery systems. The HIPPA rules especially important in medical settings are discussed with a special emphasis on issues confronting psychologists who practice outside of medical institutions and hospitals. The article also examines important implications for practice activities when psychologists attend patients who are hospitalized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological climate changes for women in academic psychology: Forecasts, sources, and implications.

Reflecting on the past, and observing the present, what kinds of psychological changes might be in the forecast for women in psychology, for women affected by our discipline, and for the discipline itself? Using metaphors borrowed from meteorology and climatology, a psychological almanac is constructed for feminist psychology in Canada, warming trends are examined on both the academic and applied fronts, and weather advisories are issued. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An introduction to psychologists treating medically ill patients: Competent practice and seeking credentials in organized health care settings for routine or incidental practice.

Psychology has been recognized as a health care science and profession, and psychologists have been working clinically with medically ill patients and within organized health care settings and hospitals for decades. The potentially daunting environment of organized health care should be seen by psychology as an opportunity to further develop and expand its scope of practice. With knowledge of that environment's rules, regulations, ethics, bylaws, and traditions, the clinically competent psychologist who is first seeking to practice in hospitals should succeed alongside psychologists with busy practices who are already exclusively or occasionally within an organized health care setting or medical facility. This article reviews issues of competency, credentialing, privileges, bylaws, and practice expansion to guide psychologists toward a successful hospital practice with medically ill patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suicide among patients with diagnoses of anxiety reaction or depressive reaction in general medical and surgical hospitals.

Analysis of records of Veterans Administration general medical and surgical patients with anxiety or depressive reactions, ? of whom had committed suicide and ? of whom were matched nonsuicidal controls, showed that the 2 groups were significantly differentiated on each of 23 feeling and behavior items. Also most of the cases could be categorized in patterns, called: (1) object-loss, suicides with severe interpersonal conflicts; (2) involutional, suicides with insult to their psychological integrity; (3) medical, controls with physical problems; (4) egoistic, both suicides and controls with few ties to society; or (5) preegoistic (tentatively identified), younger controls who were possibly in an earlier stage of the egoistic syndrome. An important measure against suicide is evidence that the hospital staff is interested in, and concerned about, the patient. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural competence and evidence-based practice in mental health services: A complementary perspective.

The need for cultural competence and the need for evidence-based practice in mental health services are major issues in contemporary discourse, especially in the psychological treatment of people of color. Although these 2 paradigms are complementary in nature, there is little cross-fertilization in the psychological literature. The present article illustrates the complementary nature of these 2 paradigms. A main point of convergence is related to the development of culturally adapted interventions in the move from efficacy research to effectiveness studies. The implications of cultural adaptations of empirically supported treatments for mental health services in terms of research and practice with ethnic/racial minority populations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

American Psychological Foundation awards for 1987: Gold Medal Awards for Psychological Science, Psychological Professional, and Contribution by a Psychologist in the Public Interest.

Announces the winners of the 1987 Gold Medal Awards. The recipients, who are 65 years of age or older and residents of North America, are recognized for a distinguished and long-continued record of accomplishments in three individual areas: professional, scientific, and public interest. The winners are as follows: Psychological Science Gold Medal Award, Fritz Heider; Psychological Professional Gold Medal Award, Rollo May; and Contribution by a Psychologist in the Public Interest Gold Medal Award, Kenneth B. Clark. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

American Psychological Foundation awards for 1987: Gold Medal Awards for Psychological Science, Psychological Professional, and Contribution by a Psychologist in the Public Interest; Distinguished Teaching in Psychology Award; Distinguished Teaching in Developmental Psychology Award; and the National Psychology Awards for Excellence in the Media.

Announces the 1987 winners of the American Psychological Foundation Awards. The recipients are as follows: the Psychological Science Gold Medal Award, Fritz Heider; the Psychological Professional Gold Medal Award, Rollo May; the Contribution by a Psychologist in the Public Interest Gold Medal Award, Kenneth B. Clark; the Distinguished Teaching in Psychology Award, Benton J. Underwood; the Distinguished Teaching in Developmental Psychology Award, Eileen Mavis Hetherington; and the National Psychology Awards for Excellence in the Media (individual awards to Maya Pines, Alfie Kohn, Sally Squires, Craig Cheatham, Diane Hurwitz, and Jeanne Betancourt). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological Needs and Threat to Safety: Implications for Staff and Patients in a Psychiatric Hospital for Youth.

For psychiatric care workers and administrators, physical threat from behaviorally dysregulated patients is an important issue tied to many others, including workers' job satisfaction, motivation, well-being, and attitude toward patients. Yet, the impact of threats to physical safety may be offset by factors in the clinical environment. The authors tested hypotheses derived from self-determination theory concerning the relations of workplace need satisfaction and perceived threat to motivation, attitudes, and well-being among clinical staff within an adolescent psychiatric inpatient hospital. Also tested were relations between need satisfaction and treatment motivation among adolescent patients. To improve the experience of psychiatric workers and their patients, clinical staff and their administrators must attend to the satisfaction of needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)