Background
In March 2018, APA Council voted to approve pursuing accreditation of master’s level programs in areas where APA already accredits (clinical, counseling, school). APA’s policy remains that the doctorate is the minimum educational requirement for entry into professional practice under the title of a psychologist.
Following Council’s actions, the BEA appointed a Task Force charged with developing a blueprint for APA to pursue accreditation of master’s programs in health service psychology. The task force recommended that the scope of accreditation be limited to master’s programs in health service psychology (clinical, counseling, and school) in the United States. Further, the task force recommended that this be achieved through an expansion of scope of the current APA Commission on Accreditation and made recommendations about the specific types of expertise that would be needed to review programs seeking accreditation.
The task force agreed that accredited master’s programs in Health Service Psychology (HSP) must meet a set of standards leading to a specific set of professional competencies that students would develop. The task force additionally recommended that a separate task force be convened to bring together key stakeholders to reach consensus on core competencies for individuals trained at the master’s level in HSP. In February 2019, the APA Council of Representatives received the task force report (PDF, 608KB)opens in new window.
At the same time, the BEA Task Force to Develop the Blueprint was completing its work, a virtual work group was convened by the BPA, the Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice and the BEA, to discuss considerations related to the competencies needed by graduates of master’s level HSP programs. That work group also recommended that an official Task Force be convened to articulate competencies for HSP students at the master’s level.