Monitor on Psychology - December 2011 - (Page 66)

consequences Many psychologists applauded the APA policy change that recommended eliminating the postdoc requirement for licensure. But that change has had unforeseen implications. B Y R EB ECCA A. C LAY Unintended I n 2006, APA encouraged state psychology boards to acknowledge changes in training practices by dropping the postdoctoral requirement for licensure. How has that shift in APA policy played out over the last five years? In some ways, say psychologists, the policy change is having the intended effect: Ten additional states — Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, Washington and Wyoming — now allow licensure applicants to substitute supervised training amassed before graduation for the traditional postdoctoral experience and seek licensure immediately upon receiving their doctoral degrees. (Alabama didn’t have a postdoc requirement to begin with.) But the recommendation that states eliminate the postdoctoral requirement has also had unintended consequences. By adding to the heterogeneity of licensing requirements, say some experts, it has restricted psychologists’ ability to move to new jurisdictions. And while the change has prompted a push to standardize what counts as appropriate practicum experience, some worry about the state’s involvement in setting criteria related to the graduate curriculum. The change has also underscored the importance of documenting and banking credentials, whether you do a postdoc or not (see sidebar). An impact on mobility and more APA’s policy change grew out of APA’s Commission on Education and Training Leading to Licensure in Psychology in 2001, when education and credentialing organizations came together to review the dramatic changes in professional psychology training over the last 30 years. When the postdoctoral requirement for licensure was originally recommended, says APA Education Directorate Executive Director Cynthia D. Belar, PhD, students in doctoral programs had minimal clinical training — 400 hours, say — before their “capstone” internship experience. Today’s programs put much more emphasis on clinical training, and students amass an unprecedented amount of experience — as much as 2,500 hours — before beginning their internships. Plus, to Monitor on psychology • DeceMber 2011 66

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - December 2011

Monitor on Psychology - December 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
From the CEO
Willpower Pioneer Wins $100,000 Grawemeyer Prize
Single-Sex Schooling Called Into Question by Prominent Researchers
Maternal Depression Stunts Childhood Growth, Research Suggests
For Boys, Sharing May Seem Like a Waste of Time
Good News for Postdoc Applicants
In Brief
Treatment Guideline Development Now Under Way
Government Relations Update
Psychologist Named Va Mental Health Chief
The Limits of Eyewitness Testimony
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Time Capsule
Deconstructing Suicide
Questionnaire
A Focus on Interdisciplinarity
A Time of ‘Enormous Change’
The Science Behind Team Science
Good Science Requires Good Conflict
A New Paradigm of Care
Speaking of Education
Science Directions
New Labels, New Attitudes?
Psychologist Profile
Early Career Psychology
Unintended Consequences
Better Options for Troubled Teens
Saving Lives, One Organ at a Time
New Journal Editors
APA News
Division Spotlight
Guidelines for the Conduct of President-Elect Nominations and Elections
American Psychological Foundation
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - December 2011