APA-Approved Guidelines

The following guidelines have been reviewed following the procedures detailed in Association Rule 30-8 and approved by the APA Council of Representatives as APA policy. APA Association Rule 30-8 defines guidelines as "pronouncements, statements or declarations that suggest or recommend specific professional behavior, endeavor or conduct for psychologists or for individuals or organizations that work with psychologists."

Education guidelines concern such matters as educational policy, assessment, program and curriculum development, and instruction.

• A taxonomy for education and training in professional psychology (PDF, 186KB)
• Clinical supervision in health service psychology (PDF, 605KB)
• Doctoral and postdoctoral level in consulting psychology/organizational consulting psychology (PDF, 137KB)
• National standards: The teaching of high school psychology
• Preparing high school psychology teachers: Course-based and standards-based approaches (PDF, 275KB)
• Principles for quality undergraduate education in psychology
• Undergraduate psychology major

Professional practice guidelines are designed to guide psychologists in practice regarding particular roles, populations or settings, and are supported by the current scholarly literature but do not focus upon specific disorders or treatments.

• Assessment of and intervention with persons with disabilities
• Child custody evaluations in family law proceedings
• *Evaluation of dementia and age-related cognitive change
• Forensic psychology
• Girls and women, psychological practice with
• Health care delivery systems, psychological practice in
• *Lesbian, gay and bisexual clients, psychological practice with
• *Multicultural education, training, research, practice and organizational change for psychologists
• *Older adults, psychological practice with
• Parenting coordination, practice of
• Prevention in psychology (PDF, 142KB)
• Psychological evaluations in child protection matters
• Psychologists' involvement in pharmacological issues
• Record keeping guidelines
• Screening and diagnosis of autism
• Telepsychology, practice of

*Developed by APA’s Public Interest Directorate to aid psychologists in their practice with special populations.

Science guidelines recommend practices concerning the care and use of nonhuman animals in research, qualifications for psychologists who utilize psychological tests, and the conduct of research with human participants.

• Code of fair testing practices in education
• Ethical conduct in the care and use of nonhuman animals in research
• Ethical conduct of behavioral projects involving human participants by high school students
• Principles for the validation and use of personnel selection procedures, 4th edition
• Test user qualifications (PDF, 410KB)
• Use of nonhuman animals in behavioral projects in schools (K-12)