Practica for Concentration Areas: Pros and Cons

1. Practica for Concentration Areas: Pros and Cons Catherine Miller, Ph.D. School of Professional Psychology Pacific University, Health Professions Campus Hillsboro, Oregon

2. Agenda • History of specialties • Current situation and use of terms • Substantive areas (developed practice areas) • Professional specialties • Specialties • Proficiencies • Concentrations/emphases/tracks • Pre-doctoral specialty training • Main issue • Benefits and drawbacks • Discussion

3. History of Specialties • Early 1980s: Subcommittee on Specialization (SOS) established. • 1985: SOS proposed criteria & procedures to recognize specialties; proposal not approved by APA. • 1985/1986: American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) adopted SOS proposal & began recognizing specialties. • 1986: Task Force on Scope & Criteria for Accreditation established; final report mirrored earlier SOS proposal.

4. History of Specialties (cont.) • 1993: Joint Interim Committee on the Identification and Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies (JIC) established. • 1995: Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology (CRSPPP) established; set formal processes for recognizing specialties & proficiencies; ABPP process was suspended.

5. Current Situation/Use of Terms • Substantive areas (developed practice areas): 3 areas recognized by Committee on Accreditation • Clinical • Counseling • School • Professional specialties: 4 areas recognized by APA • Clinical • Counseling • School • Industrial/Organizational

6. Current Situation/Use of Terms (cont.) • Specialty (CSRPPP definition): • defined area of psychological practice which is distinctive (i.e., it differs from other existing specialties in its body of specialized knowledge and professional application) and • which requires advanced knowledge and skills • acquired through an organized sequence of education and training, and • obtained subsequent to the acquisition of core scientific and professional foundations in psychology.

7. Current Situation/Use of Terms (cont.)

8. APA recognizes 11 specialties Clinical Neuropsychology Clinical Health Psychoanalytic School Clinical Clinical Child Counseling I/O Behavioral Forensic Family ABPP recognizes 13 specialties Clinical Neuropsychology Clinical Health Psychoanalysis School Clinical Child and adolescent Counseling Organizational and Business Cognitive and Behavioral Forensic Family Group Rehabilitation Current Situation/Use of Terms (cont.)

9. Current Situation/Use of Terms (cont.) • Proficiency (CSRPPP definition): • circumscribed activity with substantial, specific, and distinctive knowledge and skills • that provides the basis for service • to a specific population • to a psychological, biological, or social problem. • Specialties may include several proficiencies; proficiencies may be common across several specialties.

10. Current Situation/Use of Terms (cont.)

11. Current Situation/Use of Terms (cont.) • Concentrations/Emphases/Tracks: • Terms used by doctoral programs to demonstrate specialized pre-doctoral training above and beyond generalist training.

12. Pre-Doctoral Specialty Training • Main issue: • Disagreement between generalists & specialists • Generalists: • believe that psychology is a unitary profession • believe that you have to be a psychologist first before you can become a specialist • want core curriculum, with specialized training deferred to post-doctoral years • Specialists: • believe that there is a growing level of specialization in the field • want flexible curriculum, with specialized practica & courses taken early in training • want specialty programs to be accredited at the doctoral level • Little empirical literature available to resolve this issue

13. Pre-Doctoral Specialty Training (cont.) • Possible benefits of pre-doctoral specialty training • May increase satisfaction of students & psychologists who want pre-doctoral specialty training • 2000: France & Wolf survey of 538 members of the field found that participants disagreed with the idea that doctoral training should be generic in nature.

14. Pre-Doctoral Specialty Training (cont.) • Possible benefits of pre-doctoral specialty training • May increase satisfaction of training directors of specialized internship sites • 2005: Arnaut & McKitrick survey of 117 internship training directors found that 100% of training directors at child sites & neuropsychology sites & 86% of training directors at forensic sites prefer candidates w/specialty training.

15. Pre-Doctoral Specialty Training (cont.) • Possible drawbacks of pre-doctoral specialty training • May make accreditation process more difficult • May increase dissatisfaction among many internship training directors • 2005: Arnaut & McKitrick survey of 117 internship training directors found that 50% preferred students to have generalist training, while only 35% preferred specialty training (16% indicated no preference).

16. Pre-Doctoral Specialty Training (cont.) • Possible drawbacks of pre-doctoral specialty training • May harm students: • By limiting creativity of trainees • 2005: Arnaut & McKitrick survey of internship training directors • 64% found no difference in ease of training students w/ specialty training • 45% found no difference in performance of students w/ specialty training • By restricting the variety of students’ clinical experiences • By requiring students to focus more on practice rather than research/scholarly activities • By training to obsolescence; those who are trained too narrowly may not be able to adapt to changes in the job markets

17. Discussion • Example of one program • Additional benefits and drawbacks of pre-doctoral specialty training • Possible research to resolve this issue • Possible systems changes

18. References • American Psychological Association. (1999). APA Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology: Specialties and proficiencies in professional psychology. Retrieved January 4, 2007 from http://www.apa.org/crsppp/rsp.html • American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation. (2000). Accreditation of programs in substantive areas and specialties: Implications for doctoral programs. Retrieved on January 4, 2007 from http://www.apa.org/ed/apsas.html • Arnaut, G.L.Y, & McKitrick, D. (2005, April). A survey of internship training directors’ experience and ideas regarding specialty training in clinical psychology. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral & Internship Centers (APPIC). • France, C.M., & Wolf, E.M. (2000). Issues related to postdoctoral education and training in professional psychology: Results of an opinion survey. Professional Psychology: Research & Practice, 31(4), 429-434. • Rozensky, R.H. (2006, August). Specialization & core competency: A rose by any other name. In L.P. Rehm (Chair), Specialties & specialization in psychology: What is in a name? Education & training in psychology. Symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA), New Orleans, LA. • Smith, D. (2001). Making the grade. Monitor on Psychology, 32(7). Retrieved on January 1, 2007 from http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug01/makegrade.html • Tuma, J.M. (1989). Specialty training issues for independent practice. Psychotherapy in Private Practice, 7(1), 75-84.