AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
APPROVAL OF SPONSORS OF CONTINUING EDUCATION
FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS:

Criteria and Procedures Manual

November 1996
(updated July 2002)

Psychologists can provide direct input and be involved in all phases of the decision making and program planning processes through their representation on advisory boards, CE committees, or any body with the responsibility of determining the content and structure of continuing education activities.

Continued administrative support is essential for a program to remain in compliance with the APA Sponsor Approval System. Although the person responsible for the administration of the CE program need not be a psychologist, he or she must be knowledgeable regarding the Sponsor Approval System criteria and procedures. You must ensure this continuity throughout administrative staff changes. For example, members of your organization's CE Committee could serve staggered terms, or you could develop a "how-to" booklet with policies and procedures written down and readily available to pass on to new personnel.

Home study programs present a special administrative challenge, since materials must be developed, processed, reproduced, and distributed; in addition, procedures for scoring, notification, and record-keeping must be established and maintained. Approved sponsors of home study programs need adequate administrative staff resources to develop, implement, and maintain appropriate procedures and records.

Sound financial planning is essential to the development, administration, and improvement of CE programs. Sufficient resources must be available to provide adequately for quality CE programs.

You must have documented sources of financial support for the CE program.

Your budget and resources must be sufficient to meet all financial obligations associated with the program offerings. Resources must be adequate to support both direct and indirect program costs, including operational and nonoperational expenses as well as current and expected financial liabilities.

Your facilities must provide appropriate space for the kind of educational methodology used and be private enough to safeguard confidentiality of case material or work samples.

Facilities are expected to accommodate and be accessible to persons who are physically challenged. This includes the room in which the activity is taking place, restrooms, parking spaces, overnight rooms, and meeting rooms.

For home study programs, prospective users should be advised of any special equipment or materials they will need to provide.

DISCUSSION

For home study programs using technological media for learning, an audiotape-base program can reasonably be assumed to require the use of an audiotape player. The same can be said for video or computer activities. If, however, special equipment or software will be needed which cannot reasonably be inferred from the promotional material, the sponsor should clearly indicate what equipment, supplies or materials are needed.

Program Selection and Development

PRINCIPLE

CE offerings for psychologists, and educational objectives, should be based on the interests and needs that have been identified through solid assessment procedures.

CRITERIA

You must have methods for determining psychologists' learning needs, interests, and objectives.

You must be able to describe the basis on which program topics are chosen.

You must incorporate the results of participants' evaluations from previously offered activities into the planning process for future program offerings.

DISCUSSION

You must be able to show how CE programs relate to identified needs and interests in order to be approved as a CE sponsor. Educational needs and interests refer to any type of knowledge, skill or attitude that psychologists wish to or should develop, acquire or maintain.

In addition to your own perception of need, the programs you choose to offer will be enhanced when different sources of information are used, including:

A review of evaluation data (participant ratings) from previous similar CE activities, when available;

A survey of learning needs and interests from different sources (e.g., a random sample of psychologists, intended participants, experts in specialty areas, consumers of psychological services, instructors);

A search of the current literature;

A survey of issues and concerns of experts in a particular field; and

Suggestions and feedback from administrators, supervisors, and patients.

We encourage you to identify a target audience of participants who will benefit from the program being planned. Depending on the goals and content of the activity, the target audience can be defined in terms of individuals' current level of knowledge or skill in the subject matter, their past professional experience, methods of learning, and objectives in acquiring skills through the program.

Instructional Personnel

PRINCIPLE

The quality and value of CE programs depend in large part on the instructor's expertise, competence in subject matter, and ability to facilitate learning.

CRITERIA

Instructors must be competent and expert in the area they will teach.

Teaching ability must be a primary prerequisite for selecting CE instructors.

You must have some methods for monitoring and rating the instructors' levels of knowledge and ability to teach, such as internal evaluations and satisfaction questionnaires.

Home study program materials must be prepared by qualified individuals, including content and test-preparation experts.

Curriculum Content

PRINCIPLE

Effective CE programs are up to date with respect to the topics and the empirical, theoretical and practice literature, use current data, and address predetermined educational objectives using teaching methods and materials appropriate to the subject matter.

CRITERIA

CE programs must be relevant to psychological practice, theory, and method for doctoral-level psychologists.

CE programs for psychologists must have educational objectives.

CE programs for psychologists must be long enough to explore one subject or a closely related group of subjects in reasonable depth, but they must not be less than one full hour.

For home study programs, outcomes should be specified in terms of performance expected on the test instrument.

DISCUSSION

The term "continuing education," as it is defined in this manual, refers to education and training experiences "designed to provide or update knowledge and skills above the doctoral level." "Above the doctoral level" refers to the particular knowledge and skill level of the individual attending a program, not necessarily the level of the material being presented. According to this interpretation, the overriding consideration is whether programs offered for CE credit provide psychologists who have already obtained their doctorate with an opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills in areas relevant to their profession.

Every CE activity offered for credit, regardless of its length, must have clearly defined educational objectives. You must define carefully what will be taught and, ideally, what the participant is expected to learn as a result of attending the program, and this information must be made available to participants before they enroll. The purpose of developing educational objectives is not only to provide potential participants with information to use in selecting programs, but also to provide a set of criteria for you to use in assessing whether the goals you have established for your program have been achieved.

Your CE activities should deal with subject matter that is relevant and generally recognized within psychology. Claims made that imply new, innovative, and/or breakthrough types of findings may require substantiation via empirical data.

Often, longer programs that span several months and involve supervision are offered. In order for credit to be granted for the supervision component, the supervised activity must be a natural extension and integral part of the structured educational enterprise that, in its entirety, meets all other criteria for activities offered for credit. That is, it must have predetermined and specific educational objectives, measures to evaluate participant learning and satisfaction, and so forth. Free-standing supervision, which involves an open-ended approach, flexible agenda, and case discussions, would not meet the requirements for CE credit.

Program Evaluation

PRINCIPLE

Participants' evaluation of CE activities (1) provide the workshop leader or presenter with prompt feedback on how well he or she has accomplished his or her objective of teaching participants new or additional skills and knowledge and (2) provide data for your organization's use in planning future programs or improving current ones.

CRITERIA

You are required to have a procedure that assesses the participants' satisfaction with the overall program and their degree of perceived (self report) and/or achieved (objective) learning relative to the program's specific educational objectives. This procedure, which normally, but not necessarily, will take the form of a written rating, must be a part of each activity for which CE credit for psychologists will be awarded.

We encourage you to have all participants (not just psychologists) provide this feedback to increase the validity of the results.

At a minimum, you should obtain feedback on participant satisfaction in the following areas:

The quality of instruction and teaching ability (e.g., did the instructor present material in a clear and orderly fashion, gear material to a level appropriate to the audience, respond to questions and needs of the audience, maintain interest?);

The instructor's level of knowledge and expertise;

The usefulness of the program content for meeting each of the program's stated educational objectives;

The adequacy of the physical facilities (e.g., comfort, accessibility, space, visual and auditory supports).

You must document and use the results of the evaluation process to modify current programs and plan future ones.

You must be able to describe how the results of your evaluation procedures are used to modify current programs and plan future ones (see Section F, Program Selection and Development).

You must use a method that assures successful evaluation of home study programs.

DISCUSSION

Individuals who attend CE activities usually do so at substantial expense either to themselves or to their employers; such participants are usually highly motivated and have high expectations of the practical nature of what they learn. You will want to obtain data, both subjective and objective, on whether these expectations are being met by the CE activity being evaluated.

We encourage you to obtain data on the effectiveness of teaching strategies and communication, the instructor's ability to maintain participants' attention and interest, and the usefulness of the information presented. Such data are particularly valuable in evaluating programs and activities that will be repeated at future dates and for additional audiences.

CE activities may or may not require objective measures of learning. However, you are encouraged to obtain data on the content areas learned by participants as a way of determining the effectiveness of a program.

You must give participants documentation that states the number of CE credits earned.

Credit must be awarded in units of whole or half-hours.

One credit is awarded for each hour of the CE activity in which learning actually takes place. Credit must not be awarded for lunch hours, breaks longer than 15 minutes, etc.

The statement of APA approval (see page 15) and the name of the activity must appear on such documentation.

You must be able to verify the awarding of CE credit to participants and provide this verification to individuals who request it for at least three years after completion of the activity.

You must require participants to attend 100% of activities that are short term (less than a week) if the components of the activity run consecutively (i.e., one hour or one day after another). For long-term activities in which components do not take place consecutively, at least 80% attendance is required for credit.

Variable credits, depending on the percentage of attendance, may not be offered (i.e., if an activity is 6 hours in length, all credits awarded must be for full 6-hour attendance).

For home study activities, for which actual contact hours are difficult to determine, you need to specify the method used for determining the number of CE credits to be awarded for successful completion. The method used has to be consistent from program to program so that a uniform measure of CE credit is applied.

If you offer home-study activities, you should make every effort to ensure that the individual returning the materials for credit is the person who actually completed the work.

It is important that you provide concise information to users of home study programs indicating what the requirements are for successful completion of the CE program and subsequent awarding of credit.

You must conduct and promote CE activities following the principles set forth in APA's Ethical Principles of Psychologists as they apply to the conduct of CE activities (see Appendix 1).

Any demonstrations or procedures carried out by instructors and participants must conform to the highest ethical and professional standards as currently established by APA's Ethical Principles of Psychologists.

Claims made that imply new, innovative, or breakthrough types of findings should be defined as such to potential participants and may require substantiation via empirical data.

You cannot discriminate when hiring staff, selecting participants, or selecting faculty.


You must maintain confidentiality regarding instructional materials and participant disclosure. When applicable, you should explicitly state at the beginning of the program that confidential material may be discussed and review with the participants the limits of that confidentiality.

If any activities are potentially stressful or upsetting to participants (as far as most psychologists can predict), you must inform participants before they enroll or attend.

You must develop written procedures for dealing with participant complaints in a reasonable, ethical and timely fashion. It is not necessary to include these procedures in promotional materials. For samples of such procedures, contact the CE Programs office.

L.

Educational objectives (see Discussion, Section H, Curriculum Content);

Participants for whom the activity is designed and skill level for which the activity is appropriate;

Schedule and format (including starting and ending hours);

Cost of the activity, the refund/cancellation policy and any additional fees or expenses;

Faculty credentials, including at a minimum the highest earned relevant professional degree and current professional positions;

The number of CE credits offered for each activity.

Although this information must be made available to participants before they register for an activity (e.g., in a brochure or descriptive document), it does not have to be included in all promotional materials. However, the means of obtaining this information from you must be clear.

If you wish to mention your relationship to APA in promotional materials such as ads, brochures, and announcements, only the following statement may be used:

"(Your name) is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. (Your name) maintains responsibility for the program."

This statement, when used, must appear in its entirety. The only time a shortened statement may be used is when the full statement of approval is used elsewhere in the same promotional piece. An example of a shortened statement that may be used if the full statement appears elsewhere is as follows:

"CE Credits for Psychologists"

If an activity is co-sponsored, promotional materials and documentation of credit/attendance must clearly indicate which organization is accepting the responsibilities for upholding APA criteria, as in the following example:

"This program is co-sponsored by (Your name) and (Name of "partner" sponsor). (Your name) is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. (Your name) maintains responsibility for the program."

If you have been approved by other bodies in addition to APA you may, under certain conditions, combine APA's approval statement with that of ACCME, NBCC, and so on. The following conditions must be met: