APA College is in step as psychology practice evolves

Substance-abuse certification is gaining recognition and psychopharmacology exam will debut shortly.

By Kathryn Foxhall
Monitor staff

Four years ago, the APA's College of Professional Psychology, established to certify psychologists in specific practice areas, was just developing its first certification, in the area of substance abuse.

Today, more than 2,000 psychologists hold the college's substance-abuse certification. Meanwhile, six states (Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Vermont) have recognized the certification, and insurance companies, other payers, referral agencies and patients use the certification to find quality services.

Now the college is moving into its second major effort, pioneering the testing of psychologists' knowledge about psychotropic drugs.

"The preparation of this exam in psychopharmacology puts us at the cutting edge," says Patricia Bricklin, PhD, chair of the College Board of Governors.

And, with these two programs in place, built through intense, multi-phased projects, college officials hope that fears expressed by some about creating too many certifications that could be too easily obtained could be put to rest.

When the college was first proposed, says Bricklin, "psychologists really didn't understand the complex process of developing an examination and a certification in an area of practice. They thought it could be easily, quickly and cheaply done, and, therefore, that many would be developed quickly. Our experience demonstrated that this is not the case."

Indeed, leaders in the college say the substance-abuse certificate's acceptance reflects the body's work to carefully, deliberately build the national recognition it needs. It takes about 10 years for any certification program to become broadly known and recognized, says Janet Ciuccio, the college's executive administrator, and APA is well on track with that timeline, she says.

"Practitioners should be pleased that a quality certifying structure is in place that can be responsive to evidence of other certifying needs as the profession changes and grows," Ciuccio says.

Preparing for the future

APA's Council of Representatives created the college in 1994 to offer psychologists a way to document areas of expertise more specific than generic psychology licensure. The college issued its first invitation to apply for certification in substance abuse in 1996.

This year, the college has finalized the exam to test psychologists' knowledge of prescribing psychotropic drugs. This exam is not part of an APA certification, but will be made available to state licensing boards. Although no state currently licenses psychologists to prescribe, the exam can test the knowledge of psychologists who are being trained to prescribe or psychologists who collaborate around medication issues with other practitioners who are authorized to prescribe.

The association's proactive efforts in this area are drawing the attention of influential policy-makers. "We're already hearing from state legislators who are impressed that psychology is not only developing training programs, but is putting a process in place to examine practitioners' knowledge in psychopharmacology in anticipation of gaining prescription prescriptive authority," says APA Executive Director of Practice Russ Newman, JD, PhD.

The substance-abuse certification and the psychopharmacology exam were built with extreme care, says Bricklin. For example, in developing the psychopharmacology exam, the college contracted with the well-known Professional Examination Service (PES) to help a 15-member working group of experts create the extensive outlines, by content and by process, of the knowledge base in psychopharmacology and the definitions of what each content area includes. About 100 other experts from medicine, pharmacy, pharmacology and nursing provided review and comment throughout the project.

Then, to validate content areas and other elements, PES surveyed more than 600 professionals on the knowledge base. During the second phase of the exam development, PES, the expert working group and other advisers developed examination questions, and constructed two forms of the exam.

The recommended passing score will be set by the college's expert psychopharmacology panel under the direction of PES, using a well-accepted methodology for fairness and defensibility called the Modified-Angoff.

The pay-off

The pay-off for this kind of rigor, says Ciuccio, can be seen in the recognition psychologists are finding for the substance-abuse certification. For instance, several psychologists say they notice that more insurers are asking what credentials they have to work in addictions, and the APA certificate is an effective answer.

Grady Dale, Jr., EdD, of Baltimore, suspects the time will come when payers will require certification. And, as the addiction field becomes more crowded with a variety of practitioners and different certifications, he finds it already helps to have the APA certificate.

Indeed, Bricklin indicates the college's Board of Governors chose substance abuse for the first certification because psychologists were being excluded from jobs or payment in the addictions field, because they had no way of demonstrating their training.

Steve DuBrow-Eichel, PhD, of Philadelphia, says the certificate boosts his practice because some people with addictions want to see a psychologist, rather than another type of addictions counselor, but need some way to recognize who has addiction treatment skills. And, when the employee-assistance program DuBrow-Eichel works with wanted some indication of his addiction expertise, it accepted the APA certificate. The certification also provides an important demonstration of competence for assignments in forensics work, says DuBrow-Eichel.

In another example, New Hampshire regulations previously allowed only certified addiction counselors to perform certain aspects of the work related to intoxicated driving cases, according Eric Mart, PhD, of Manchester. But the state has now recognized the APA certificate as a substitute credential. The certification also helped Mart get a seat on the board overseeing the state's impaired driver intervention program.

Meyer Glantz, PhD, of Rockville, Md., another certificant, believes the certification will help distinguish psychologists who have substance-abuse training--a recognition, he says, that is lacking in both the general public and among health-care professionals.

Beyond the certification itself, Ciuccio says, psychologists are finding that the exam and suggested study materials constitute an authoritative definition of the knowledge domain that psychologists should understand before treating substance abuse.

Glantz, commending the effort that went into building the exam, says it really tests knowledge of research, practices and sensitivity to issues unique to drug abuse.

Future certifications

The college continually evaluates the health-care marketplace to see if there are areas of practice for which a new certification would be useful for both psychologists and consumers--as well as one that is feasible to develop.

Before the college's board decides it will consider an area for certification it looks at issues such as whether psychologists are disadvantaged in the marketplace for lack of a credential, whether the number of psychologists practicing in the area would support the credential development and whether a credential would help consumers identify psychologists with those skills.



Read our privacy statement and Terms of Use

Cover Page for this Issue

PsychNET®
© 1999 American Psychological Association

APA Home Page . Search . Site Map