Clinical psychology directors focus on supply and demand

National training council meeting follows up on issues discussed at APA meeting last fall.

By Beverly Thorn, PhD

The supply and demand of psychologists was the primary focus of discussion at the meeting of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP)?the national training council that represents nearly 160 scientist-practitioner doctoral programs across the United States and Canada. The group?s meeting was held Jan. 30?Feb. 1 in San Diego.

The discussions were a follow up to the November Supply and Demand conference co-sponsored by APA and Association of Psychology and Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). CUDCP has moved toward a leadership role in this area by unanimously resolving to develop mechanisms to introduce potential applicants to clinical psychology programs and the public about program-specific and aggregate data on student-faculty ratios, internship placements, student funding postgraduate employment and other factors. George Allen, PhD, of the University of Connecticut is chairing this effort.

Although APA?s Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation can provide aggregate data across accredited programs, CUDCP believes that it is the obligation of every training program to provide program-specific data to facilitate realistic decision-making by potential students. Although CUDCP is prepared to publish its own directory if necessary, the organizers thought that modifying the program descriptive section of the APA publication Graduate Study in Psychology would be a more widely publicized forum for such information.

CUDCP is now developing a standardized format through which each member program will provide truth-in-advertising information. We will start by putting program-by-program information on the CUDCP Web page, which is now under construction (http://www.am.org/cudcp).

Internship shortage

Clinical psychology directors are also concerned about the perceived internship shortage for predoctoral clinical, counseling and school psychology students. In the past few years, the APPIC Clearinghouse has received approximately 300 requests from students who remained unplaced after Uniform Notification Day in February.

The clearinghouse data reflect only the total number of students participating in the clearinghouse by year, but do not take into account the possibility that the number of students participating in the internship process may also be rising. CUDCP spearheaded a 1997 survey of Directors of Training to determine actual internship placement rates and other pertinent information.

This year, CUDCP has secured the co-sponsorship of National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology (NCSPP) (Professional), Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs (CCPTP) (Counseling), and the Council of Doctoral School Psychology Programs (CDSPP) (School) to get a broader sampling of the internship placement rates across types of doctoral training programs. Preliminary data suggest an approximate placement rate of 89 percent. We are still waiting for the responses from many training programs.

Timing of clinical internship

One of the hottest topics carried over from CUDCP?s meeting last year was the vote by a majority of CUDCP attendees to move the timing of the clinical internship to the postdoctoral period. The issue was thought to be so important that a follow-up mail ballot of the membership was taken, and it affirmed the majority?s desire to change.

The CUDCP vote was viewed by many of its members as a call for the relevant training and organizational bodies to examine the issue of internship timing?not as a move to rush headlong into an immediate change.

The vote was more controversial outside CUDCP, with APPIC, CCPTP, NCSPP and CDSPP reaffirming predoctoral internship timing after learning of CUDCP?s action.

In direct response to CUDCP?s efforts, APA?s Board of Educational Affairs has appointed a working group (including the Council of Chairs of Training Councils) to conduct an impact study on moving internship training from predoctoral to postdoctoral status and to summarize the implications of such for quality of training, financial and administrative support, accreditation and licensure.

At the March BEA meeting, training councils agreed to begin discussing necessary modifications in the professional training sequence.

Applicant cost issue

CUDCP also unanimously passed another resolution related to internships. In the 1997 survey of CUDCP member programs, it became evident that students applying for internships were spending, on average, more than $1,000 on applications and interviews to secure a one-year position as an intern. Rumors abound that costs for 1998 students were even higher because internships allegedly interviewed more applicants.

Given our concern with apparent rising costs, in terms of both time and money, of the current internship interviewing process, CUDCP resolved that APPIC work with relevant organizations to develop mechanisms to mitigate these costs.

To obtain membership information on CUDCP, send an e-mail to Patricia Wisocki, PhD, secretary-treasurer.

Beverly Thorn, PhD, CUDCP executive board chair, is director of clinical training at the University of Alabama.