CHP Template Image
CHP Internal Self Study
DOMAIN A: EligibilityA1. Training for Professional Practice of Psychology.
The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology offers internship training in clinical psychology to students who are pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology from programs accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). We seek to prepare students for the practice of professional psychology consistent with philosophy embodied in the scientist-practitioner model of training. We endeavor to teach students how to think scientifically about clinical problems, how to provide clinical service with skill and appreciation for human diversity and the highest ethical and professional standards, how to evaluate the clinical relevance of empirical research, and how to contribute to advancements in psychological knowledge through research and scholarship.
Our philosophy of training is consistent with the model espoused by the National Conference on Scientist-Practitioner Education and Training for the Professional Practice of Professional Psychology (Belar & Perry, 1991). Accordingly, our Departmental Mission Statement (Appendix A) directs us to "educate tomorrow's leaders in psychology in the scientist-practitioner tradition, advance psychological science, and improve the health and quality of life of all people through excellence in research, education, and health service delivery."
Our Department is the recipient of the "2001 Department of the Year Award" from the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS). The nomination for this award was based upon a letter submitted and signed by our students, interns, and postdoctoral fellows attesting to the positive atmosphere in which training occurs in our Department.
A2. Internship Setting.
The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology is a unit of the College of Health Professions of the University of Florida. Founded in 1853, the University of Florida has a long history of established programs in education, research, and service. It is one of only 17 public, land-grant universities that belong to the prestigious group of 62 institutions that comprise the Association of American Universities. With more than 46,000 students, including approximately 8,500 graduate and professional degree students, the University is the fourth largest in the nation. The University is a major teaching and research institution with more than 200 educational programs and extramural grant income exceeding $300 million per year.
The College of Health Professions is one of six colleges (including Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine), which along with Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics comprise the University of Florida Health Science Center--the most comprehensive academic health science center in the southeastern United States. The UF Health Science Center is dedicated to high-quality programs of education, research, and clinical care. Patient care services at the UF Health Science Center are provided through Shands Teaching Hospital (570 beds) and its 23 associated Clinics.
The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology operates the Psychology Clinic, which provides comprehensive psychological services to outpatients in the greater Gainesville community and to patients of Shands Teaching Hospital. The Psychology Clinic serves as the primary training site for the Psychology Internship Program. During the year 2000, there were a total of 8,517 patient visits to the Psychology Clinic. Of this total, 1,764 patient contacts were conducted for the purpose of psychological assessments or consultations; the remaining 5,753 contacts were for psychological treatment services.
A3. Administrative Structure of the Internship.
The Psychology Internship Program is one of two APA-approved training programs within the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology. In addition to the internship program, the Department also has a doctoral training program in clinical psychology (which in the past year received its reaccredidation from APA). The Department receives funding from the State of Florida to support its educational mission, and it has enjoyed a long history of strong institutional support for the missions of doctoral education and internship training in clinical psychology. Indeed, the Psychology Internship Program, which has been accredited continuously since 1963, represents an integral part of the mission of the Department, the College, and the Health Science Center. The Internship Program has received strong support at each of these levels for its training mission. This support has manifested itself in the substantial commitments of faculty time, space allocation, and administrative and financial resources provided by the Department, the College, and the Health Science Center. The annual costs for intern salaries and benefits (currently $206,400) are represented each year within the Department's annual budget. A strong commitment to continuing institutional support for the Internship Program has been made at both the Department and College levels.
The administrative structure of the Psychology Internship Program is unique among those situated in academic health science centers. Our program resides in an independent Department of Clinical and Health Psychology rather than in a Department of Psychiatry, the more common location of psychology internship programs in academic health sciences centers. In addition, both the Chair of the Department (Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., ABPP) and the Dean of the College of Health Professions (Robert G. Frank, Ph.D., ABPP) are nationally prominent psychologists with distinguished records of leadership and commitment to the training of psychologists in health care settings. Dr. Rozensky is a Past Chair of APA's Board of Professional Affairs and is currently serving on APA's Board of Educational Affairs. Dr. Frank, who is the immediate Past Chair of APA's Board of Educational Affairs, has been instrumental in the effort to qualify psychology internship programs for General Medical Education (GME) funding.
Responsibility for the training of interns is shared by 26 faculty members who serve as clinical training supervisors and by 9 other faculty who contribute to the program through educational and didactic offerings. Virtually all of our faculty participate in the clinical, research, and educational mission of the Department, and thus reflect and model the scientist-practitioner tradition on a day-to-day basis. Major decisions regarding the internship, including overall evaluations of program performance and intern progress, are made collectively by the faculty.
A4. Required Time Commitment.
The Psychology Internship Program requires one year of full-time training. We do not have part-time interns. To be considered for admission, candidates must be doctoral students in good standing in an APA-approved program in clinical or counseling psychology. They must have completed their masters' degree or equivalent as well as their qualifying doctoral examination or equivalent. Candidates must be certified as ready for internship training by the Director of Training of their doctoral programs. Applications must be received by November 20th and must include a curriculum vitae, the APPIC internship application, three letters of recommendation (including one from the training director of the applicant's doctoral program), graduate transcripts and a clinical work sample. A written description of the internship program, its faculty, and its policies and procedures regarding admission requirements, financial compensation, training opportunities, supervision, evaluation, advisement, retention and termination, and grievance procedures are provided to all who request such information via our Department website (www.hp.ufl.edu/chp; see Appendix B for a copy of the Internship Program materials available via our website). For those who do not have Internet access, a written copy is provided.
A5. Cultural and Individual Diversity.
The University of Florida is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology is strongly committed to respect and understanding of cultural and individual diversity in its admission and training policies. Admission to the program is not limited by age, color, disabilities, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status. The program avoids any actions that would restrict admission on grounds that are irrelevant to successful completion of the internship. Moreover, the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology has an active minority recruitment program for prospective interns. Applications for the internship program from qualified minority persons are encouraged and invited. Minority individuals who wish to be considered under this recruitment program are encouraged to indicate their interest on the internship application form. Special efforts are made to provide such individuals with additional information about the program and the Gainesville community and to give them an opportunity to ask questions regarding any special concerns or needs that they might have. Our commitment to respect and understanding of cultural and individual diversity is also reflected in our didactic and clinical training, which promote an understanding of issues of individual and cultural diversity as related to the practice of psychology. It is also reflected in our research training, which promotes appreciation of, and concern for, investigative efforts that serve underserved, disabled, or disadvantaged populations. One of our faculty, Dr. Dede, has a major role within the campus-wide minority-mentoring program.
A6. Availability of Policies and Procedures.
Our program adheres to and makes available to all interested parties formal written policies and procedures that govern intern selection; practicum and academic preparation requirements; administrative and financial assistance; intern performance evaluation; feedback, advisement, retention and termination; and due process and grievance procedures for interns and training staff (see Appendix B). It complies with other policies and procedures of the University of Florida that pertain to faculty and intern rights, responsibilities, and personal development. The following documents contain the policies and procedures of the program and university: Our Internship Handbook, which includes a copy of the materials on our website (Appendix B); the University of Florida Graduate Student Handbook (Appendix C), which includes the grievance procedures applicable to interns; and portions of the UF Faculty Handbook (Article V and Senate By-Law 7), which are related to due process procedures for faculty (see Appendix D; the entire document can be found on the UF Website at http://www.ufl.edu). Our Psychology Clinic also has a Policy and Procedures Manual (see Appendix E) for use in understanding clinic function and responsibilities. A copy of the this manual is provided to interns.
DOMAIN B: Program Philosophy, Objectives, and Training Plan
B1. Educational Philosophy, Training Model, and Goals.
Our Departmental Mission Statement (Appendix A) indicates that our overall goals are to: (a) educate leaders in psychology within the scientist-practitioner tradition, (b) advance the science of psychology through original research, and (c) strive to improve health and quality of life through excellence in research, education, and health service delivery. The overall philosophy that drives these goals is embodied in the policy statement that emerged from the National Conference on Scientist-Practitioner Education and Training for the Professional Practice of Psychology, held in Gainesville on January 16-20, 1990:
"The scientist-practitioner model of education and training in psychology is an integrative approach to science and practice wherein each must continually inform the other. This model represents more than a summation of both parts. Scientist- practitioner psychologists embody a research orientation in their practice and a practice relevance in their research. Thus, a scientist-practitioner is not defined by a job title or a role, but rather by an integrated approach to both science and practice. This model entails development of interlocking skills to foster a career-long process of psychological investigation, assessment and intervention (Belar & Perry, 1991, p. 7)."
The Department's programs reflect our efforts to teach students how to think scientifically about clinical problems, how to provide clinical service with skill and appreciation for human diversity and the highest ethical and professional standards, how to evaluate the impact of clinical services using empirically-derived methods, and how to advance psychological knowledge through research and scholarship. The overall philosophy of the Internship Program is consistent with that of the Mission Statements of the College of Health Professions and the University of Florida, which are also contained in Appendix A.
Graduates of scientist-practitioner training programs recognize that psychological practice is based on the science of psychology, which in turn is influenced by the professional practice of psychology. The major portion of internship activities are targeted to professional training, and interns have the opportunity to devote a minor portion (approximately 10%) of their training to research activities. Training in our program is provided by faculty who are committed to the scientist-practitioner model. Most faculty members are actively engaged in both research and clinical practice, and all tenure-line faculty have some level of external research funding. Thus, the faculty are well suited to serve as scientist-practitioner role models, and interns often have the opportunity to observe the integration and interplay of scientific inquiry and clinical practice. It is expected that the training program will provide appropriate preparation for graduate students who wish to pursue careers as practitioners or as scientists or as a combination of both. In all instances, it is expected that graduates of our program will have a firm professional commitment to a practice of psychology that is based on clinically relevant scientific knowledge.
B2. Education and Training Objectives and Competencies.
We seek to prepare the intern through supervised clinical training and didactics to function as an entry-level professional psychologist, to practice competently in applied areas of psychological assessment, consultation, and intervention, and to develop attitudes for ongoing professional development within a context of an evolving body of scientific and clinical knowledge, with an understanding and appreciation of ethical, legal, and human diversity considerations in the practice of clinical psychology. The internship program consists of supervised clinical training experiences that are sequential, cumulative, and graded in complexity. We take a "developmental perspective" on the accumulation of knowledge and skills during this critical training period when the intern makes the transition from the role of student to that of colleague. Each clinical supervisor is expected to contribute to the intern's progression from relative dependence to increased autonomy and greater responsibility in the provision of clinical services.
Graduates of the Internship Program are expected to demonstrate specific competencies required for entry-level practice of psychology in a variety of settings. Graduates are expected to be knowledgeable consumers of psychological research results, and to have the ability and inclination to incorporate advances in knowledge into their own practice. They are expected to be skilled in the delivery of a broad variety of assessment and intervention procedures. Graduates are expected to be cognizant of major sources of individual and group variation and to understand how such diversity affects psychological processes, clinical presentation, and responsiveness to intervention. Graduates are also expected to deliver professional services and to conduct research in a manner that shows dedication to applicable ethical, professional practice, and legal standards.
At the completion of training, interns are expected to demonstrate the ability to function as psychologists with entry-level knowledge and skills with respect to six substantive domains: (1) psychological assessment, (2) psychological consultation, (3) psychotherapeutic intervention, (4) professional standards, ethics, and law, (5) cultural and individual diversity, and (6) research and scholarly inquiry. The goal and objectives in each of these areas (described below) form the basis for our individualized training plans and our assessments of intern progress throughout the course of the internship year. (A detailed comprehensive description of the Internship Program's goals and objectives and their relation to competencies, training activities, and outcomes is presented in Table 6).
GOAL 1. To produce graduates who have the requisite knowledge and skills in psychological assessment for entry-level practice of professional psychology.
Objectives:
A. Acquire knowledge of data-based approaches to psychological assessment (i.e.,
use of quantitative, norm-based assessment methods in conjunction with idiographic,
qualitative data)
B. Acquire the skills to conceptualize the causative and maintaining factors
contributing to the client's adaptive and maladaptive patterns of behaviors,
emotions, and cognitions
C. Acquire knowledge and appreciation of the influence of cultural and individual
diversity factors in psychological assessment
Competencies:
1. Ability to select appropriate assessment procedures tailored to the individual
client's needs or diagnosis
2. Ability to develop and maintain patient rapport during assessment procedures
3. Ability to conduct interviews for the purpose of establishing DSM-IV diagnoses
and developing appropriate treatment plans
4. Ability to administer and interpret standardized psychological tests
5. Ability to integrate assessment data derived from testing, interviews, behavioral
observations, and other sources of information
6. Ability to understand the influence of cultural and individual diversity
factors in psychological assessment
GOAL 2. To produce graduates who have the requisite knowledge and skills
in consultation and communication for entry-level practice of professional psychology.
Objectives:
A. Acquire knowledge of the appropriate role of a psychologist as a consultant
B. Acquire the skills to understand and respond effectively to professional
consultation questions
C. Acquire knowledge and appreciation of the influence of cultural and individual
diversity factors in psychological assessment
Competencies:
1. Ability to conduct a psychological assessment required to provide an appropriate
response to a request for consultation
2. Ability to formulate an appropriate response to the consultation question
3. Ability to present oral feedback to the referral source in a cogent manner
4. Ability to provide effective written communication to other professionals
5. Ability to communicate effectively with patients (and their families when
appropriate) regarding the outcome of a consultation
6. Ability to communicate effectively to a group of professionals
7. Ability to understand the influence of cultural and individual diversity
factors in psychological consultations
GOAL 3. To produce graduates who have the requisite knowledge and skills
in psychotherapeutic interventions for entry-level practice of professional
psychology.
Objectives:
A. Acquire knowledge of theory and research regarding psychotherapeutic interventions
(including empirically supported treatments)
B. Acquire the skills to implement an effective psychotherapeutic intervention
and to assess its effectiveness
C. Acquire knowledge of the influence of cultural and individual diversity factors
in psychological interventions
Competencies:
1. Ability to devise an individually-tailored treatment plan based on an appropriate
psychological assessment of the patient's problems/diagnosis
2. Ability to develop an effective working relationship with the patient
3. Ability to implement effective psychotherapeutic interventions for a variety
of presenting problems/diagnoses
4. Ability to implement effective psychotherapeutic interventions with patients
of both sexes, of different ages (children/adolescents as well as adults), and
from varying socio-cultural backgrounds
5. Ability to understand the influence of cultural and individual diversity
factors in psychological treatment
GOAL 4. To produce graduates with the requisite knowledge of professional
standards, ethics, and legal issues for entry-level practice of professional
psychology.
Objectives:
A. Acquire and apply knowledge of APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct
and APA practice guidelines (e.g., the general guidelines for service providers
as well as those pertaining to record keeping, child custody evaluations, assessment
of dementia, therapy with gay, lesbian and bisexual clients, etc.)
B. Acquire and apply knowledge of State of Florida statutes relevant the practice
of psychology
Competencies:
1. Ability to apply ethical decision making in the context of professional practice
2. Ability to apply relevant legal consideration in the context of professional
practice
3. Ability to demonstrate appropriate professional standards of behavior with
regard to interactions with patients, staff, students, supervisors, other professionals,
and the public
GOAL 5. To produce graduates with requisite knowledge and respect of
cultural and individual diversity for entry-level practice of professional psychology.
Objectives:
A. Acquire knowledge and respect for cultural and individual diversity including
personal and demographic characteristics such as age, color, disabilities, ethnicity,
gender, language, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic
status
Competency:
1. Display the ability to integrate human diversity considerations into psychological
assessment, consultation, intervention, and research
GOAL 6. To produce graduates with the requisite knowledge of the strategies
of scholarly inquiry and methods of supervision and clinical teaching for entry-level
practice of professional psychology.
Objectives:
A. Acquire knowledge of the empirical basis of practice, the clinical value
of research, and appropriate methods of scholarly inquiry
B. Acquire knowledge of appropriate methods for clinical teaching and supervision
Competencies:
1. Ability to evaluate the research literature for clinical meaningfulness,
scientific rigor, and relevance to diverse patient populations
2. Ability to apply the theoretical and empirical literature to professional
practice
3. Ability to understand the factors that contribute to effective supervision
and clinical teaching
As indicated in Table 6, we have identified both "distal" and "proximal"
outcomes associated with the goals of our program. Distal outcomes are what
we expect our interns to accomplish during the years following internship (i.e.,
capable of functioning autonomously in a variety of roles as professional psychologists).
Proximal outcomes are what we expect our interns will accomplish during the
internship year. By the conclusion of the internship year, all interns are expected
to demonstrate entry-level knowledge and competence with respect to their area
of specialty within clinical psychology (i.e., clinical child/pediatric psychology,
medical/health psychology, clinical neuropsychology, or rural/primary care psychology)
and intermediate to advanced knowledge and skills with respect to each of the
other areas of their clinical training. "Advanced" (i.e., "entry-level")
knowledge and competence is defined as ability to function competently as a
professional psychologist with minimal supervision until achieving licensure
as a psychologist.
The intern's experience of direct provision of clinical services occurs in conjunction with regular, ongoing (individual and/or group) supervision by a faculty member. It is generally preceded by opportunities for observational learning and guided participation by the faculty member. In addition, the clinical and supervisory experiences are supplemented with yearlong didactic experiences that address theories and methods of assessment/diagnosis and consultation, psychological interventions and their efficacy (including empirically supported treatment), ethics and professional behavior, and issues of cultural and individual diversity.
The Internship Program combines general training in the practice of clinical psychology in a health care setting together with more intensive specialty training in one of four areas: (1) clinical child/pediatric psychology; (2) medical/health psychology; (3) clinical neuropsychology; or (4) rural/primary care psychology. Specialty track training allows the intern to focus intensively on a major area of professional interest. Training in the general and specialty areas is conducted concurrently throughout the internship year. General training (which is operationally defined as training in outside the elected specialty track) accounts for approximately 50% of the intern's time. Specialty training accounts for the remaining 50% of the intern's time, thereby providing opportunities to accomplish both breadth and depth of training. A brief description of the types of training experiences and clinical problems encountered in each of the specialty tracks is summarized below.
The Clinical-Child/Pediatric Psychology specialty track provides training experiences in the assessment and treatment of children and their families. Psychological evaluations typically include intellectual and learning disability assessments and assessments for behavioral and adjustment problems. Interns gain pediatric psychology experience through consultation with the pediatric inpatient and outpatient units on problems such as adjustment to illness, adherence to medical regimens, pain management, and grief and bereavement issues. Interns maintain an ongoing caseload of child treatment cases that are obtained through the Psychology Clinic or through Child Psychiatry's outpatient or inpatient services. Therapy experiences typically include individual and family therapy and parent training in child behavior management. On the Diabetes Project Unit, a residential treatment facility for children and adolescents with significant adjustment problems involving diabetes, interns serve as primary therapists and case managers.
The Medical/Health Psychology specialty track provides intensive training in medical and clinical health psychology. Through supervised involvement in outpatient and inpatient treatment, assessment, and consultation, interns have the opportunity to assess and treat patients with a variety of problems and disabilities (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic and acute pain, morbid obesity, and eating disorders, etc.). Inpatient experiences typically involve consultation/liaison activities and entail the coordination of psychological services with medical interventions. Interns also receive training in the evaluation and treatment of patients (as well as their families) who are undergoing organ transplantation (i.e., heart, lung, liver, kidney, or bone marrow).
The Clinical Neuropsychology specialty track provides training in the theory and practice of clinical neuropsychology. Interns rotate through a variety of experiences that provide exposure to the range of patient problems, assessment techniques, and referral questions commonly seen in the field of neuropsychology. Patients are seen for a variety of diagnostic issues such as dementia, epilepsy, traumatic brain injuries, vascular disorders, and adult learning disabilities. Interns also have the opportunity to gain experience in the neuropsychological assessment of children and may select cases from pediatric neurology, oncology, and neurosurgery referrals and from the large number of learning disabilities assessments conducted in the Psychology Clinic.
The Rural/Primary Care Psychology track provides training in clinical, health, and community psychology services for rural populations. The majority of training occurs within health department clinics, regional hospitals, and public school systems of rural counties in north Florida. Typical activities include brief psychological evaluation and treatment as well as consultation with health-care practitioners for behavioral health and medical treatment management. Common presenting problems include: adult disorders (e.g. mood, anxiety, somatoform, and adjustment); problems of childhood and adolescence (e.g. learning disorders, attention deficit-hyperactivity, oppositional defiant disorder, school phobia, and conduct disorder); general medical related problems (e.g. coping with illness, treatment adherence, and practitioner-patient communication); chronic illness management (e.g. pain, asthma and diabetes); and health behavior change issues (e.g. smoking cessation, physical activity, and weight management).
B3. Organization of Intern Training.
For each intern, training in assessment and consultation occupies two days per week of which one day is devoted to general training and the other to specialty training. Interns are typically assigned to the Psychology Clinic to conduct assessments/consultation conjointly with or under the supervision of departmental faculty. Assessments and consultations include outpatients referred to the Psychology Clinic and inpatients within Shands Teaching Hospital. Assignments for training in assessment and consultation skills are made on a quarterly basis. The assignments for training are based on an individualized training plan that is developed jointly by the intern and the Training Director and takes into account the intern's previous training experiences and future career goals. The quarterly rotation of assessment supervisors provides the intern with opportunities to work with a variety of faculty and to gain a breadth of experience within both their general and specialty areas of training.
Training in psychological interventions and psychotherapy is generally conducted on separate days from assessment/consultation training. Two days per week are typically devoted to therapy training and supervision. Each intern is expected to carry a range of treatment cases with respect to presenting problem diagnosis, age, sex, and socio-cultural diversity. Interns normally maintain a caseload of 5 to 10 cases per week, and they typically receive 1/2 hour of individual supervision per one hour of therapy. Psychotherapy supervision is not subject to the quarterly rotation system that is used for assessment/consultation assignment. Interns continue with a therapy supervisor from the start of a case through to its conclusion. It is expected that over the course of the internship year that interns will accumulate at least 200 hours of contact with patients in psychotherapeutic interventions. Interns average approximately 6 hours per week of supervision including a minimum of 2 hours per week of individual supervision.
Didactic training and an opportunity for research involvement generally occupy the fifth day of the training week (Fridays). Didactic training has both general and specialized components. All interns are expected to attend: (a) the weekly Clinic Team Meetings (which are devoted to discussion of clinical cases and the assignment of new treatment cases); (b) the weekly Departmental Teaching Conference series; and (c) the weekly Intern Training Seminar (which devoted to presentations and discussions related to ethics, professional practice, career development, and the integration of empirical and clinical knowledge). [Please see Appendix F, which includes the topics and presenters for the 2000-2001 Intern Training Seminars, for the 2000-2001 Departmental Teaching Conference series, and for the July 2001 Intern Orientation Program.] All interns also attend one or more specialty track meetings, which are devoted to clinical and research issues specific to the identified specialty area of psychology. In addition, interns collaborate with departmental faculty in research either by participating in an ongoing investigation or by initiating a new project with a faculty collaborator or sponsor. Research involvement during the workweek is generally limited to 10% time. Collectively, 20% of the interns' time each week is devoted to didactic and participatory experiences designed to demonstrate of the integration of science and practice in clinical psychology.
The specific course of training is tailored individually to each intern's particular training needs and level of expertise in specific professional functions. Early in the internship year, the Training Director meets with each intern to review the intern's prior practicum training experiences and self-assessment of professional training needs. The outcome of this review is a written product which delineates a training plan across the following five categories: (1) assessment and consultation skills (e.g., interviewing, testing, independent case conceptualization, report writing, feedback to referral sources, etc.); (2) intervention skills (e.g., individual, marital/couples, family, or group psychotherapy, etc.); (3) populations (e.g., children, adolescents, adults, elderly, medical surgical, pediatric, psychiatric, neurological patients, etc.); (4) theoretical orientations (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, systems, interpersonal, dynamic, eclectic, etc.); and (5) other skills (e.g., supervisory experience, research involvement, etc.). These identified training targets serve as the guide that is used in determining the intern's clinical training assignments. (Please see Appendix G for a copy of these forms.) The individualized training plan is reviewed quarterly and is updated based on the intern's progress and input from the written and oral feedback from the intern's training supervisors.
During the first month of the internship year, an intensive didactic series of presentations and workshops is used to provide all interns with a basic preparation for much of the clinical training they will undergo during the year. During this first month, the didactic series consists of the following three major components: (1) a three-day orientation period in which interns are provided with a detailed overview of the Program, the Department, and the Clinic; (2) a daily seminar series consisting of fifteen 90-minute presentations by faculty of key issues across the major areas of clinical practice (Please see Appendix F for a list of these presentations); and (3) a full-day workshop designed to provide interns with basic introduction to neuropsychological assessment. All three of these didactic components are supplemented with key readings to assist interns in basic preparation for the clinical training experiences that they will encounter during the internship year. The intensive didactic series during the first month of training ensures a basal level of knowledge across an intern class composed of individuals with diverse backgrounds in their prior clinical experiences and training.
Modeling and guided participation typify the primary teaching methods used at the onset of each quarterly assessment/consultation rotation. Each faculty supervisor reviews the intern's prior training related to the primary focus area of the rotation so as to gauge the level and type of supervisory guidance required to meet the intern's training needs. At the outset of the rotation, the faculty typically will model the clinical skills that the intern is expected to learn or refine during the course of the rotation. The faculty may also assign supplementary readings to assist in preparation for training. Through guided participation, the faculty member will allow the intern to assume greater degrees of clinical responsibility with appropriate feedback about the intern's performance. By the conclusion of the rotation, it is generally expected that the intern will be able to demonstrate a substantial increase in the ability to carry out the assessment/consultation skills that comprised the primary focus of training for that rotation. In many but not all cases, it is expected that the intern's performance of the assessment/consultation skills will be at or near the level judged by the faculty supervisor to represent competent entry-level professional practice. An example of an exception to this rule would be the case of an intern completing a first rotation in neuropsychological assessment.
The Chair of the Department appoints the Director of the Internship Program. The current Director, Michael G. Perri, Ph.D., ABPP, is a tenured, full professor with 23 years of professional experience, who has directed the Internship Program since 1992. He is a licensed psychologist in the State of Florida, a fellow of the American Psychological Association (in Divisions 38 and 50), a fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and a diplomate in Clinical Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. The Internship Director is responsible for coordinating the training experiences of all interns. This responsibility entails the following activities: developing an individualized training plan with each intern; assigning interns to specific clinical training experiences; coordinating the intern didactic seminar series; monitoring intern progress toward training objectives; coordinating faculty evaluations of interns' training progress; providing performance feedback to interns and, if necessary, implementing required corrective actions; communicating with interns' home programs; coordinating the recruitment and admission of new interns; and providing documentation of internship completion to all interested parties.
All substantive changes in the internship training program are made collectively
by the training faculty. The faculty as a whole also decides when intern performance
falls below threshold for satisfactory progress and requires a specific action
such as probationary status, remediation, or dismissal. Budgetary decisions
regarding the internship program are made by the Department Chair in consultation
with the Internship Director and the Department's Assistant Director for Health
Administration. Intern assignments to specific training experiences are reviewed
by the Clinic Management Committee, which is composed of the Department Chair,
the Associate Chair for Academic Affairs, the Psychology Clinic Director, the
Internship Director, intern and student representatives, and the Clinic Team
Leaders (i.e., those faculty who are charged with coordinating patient services
with training needs on a day-to-day basis). Admissions to the Internship Program
are made in a two-step process. The Internship Admissions Committee, which is
chaired by the Internship Director and includes representative from each of
the specialty track, selects applicants to be invited for on campus interviews;
following the interviews, the particular faculty members associated with each
of the four training tracks (i.e., clinical child/pediatric psychology; medical/health
psychology; clinical neuropsycholgy; and rural health psychology) decide on
the rankings of candidates to be submitted to the National Matching Services,
Inc.
Each internship class elects an intern representative. The "Intern Rep"
attends the faculty meetings (except those involving evaluations of interns,
students, or faculty), and represents the interns' perspective on the issues
of training, resources, and program planning. The intern rep also serves as
a liaison to the Director for requests to deal with issues that affect more
than one intern. Recent intern representatives have been instrumental in a variety
of key changes that affect interns ranging from the addition of private health
insurance as an option to the University of Florida student plan to the availability
of a cell phone to facilitate communication between the intern and faculty member
who are sharing after-hours "on-call" responsibilities.
B4. Expected Proficiencies (proximal outcomes).
The essential clinical psychology skills in which all interns are expected to demonstrate competence include the following: (a) psychological assessment including clinical interviewing (i.e., the development of an appropriate interpersonal contact that permits the gathering of information relevant to biobehavioral and psychosocial factors that cause or maintain the patient's presenting problem or symptomatology) and the selection, use, and interpretation of standardized psychological tests and measures relevant to forming a diagnosis, conceptualization, or treatment plan for the presenting problem; (b) consultation and communication with other professionals regarding the contribution of psychological factors to the presenting problem or diagnosis and the availability of appropriate psychological intervention alternatives; (c) case conceptualization and report writing (i.e., the integration of interview data, test findings, and collateral sources of information into a coherent framework that allows for the communication of an accurate diagnosis and the development of an appropriate treatment plan); (d) psychotherapeutic intervention (i.e., the development and implementation of an appropriate treatment derived from a data-based case conceptualization and an awareness of the relevant empirical literature regarding the efficacy of various treatments for the presenting problem or diagnosis); (e) awareness of issues of professional ethics, legal issues, and individual and cultural diversity as they affect the practice of psychology; and (f) knowledge of the methods and contributions of research and scholarly inquiry as applied to the practice of psychology.
Competence in the essential professional skills at an "advanced" level (appropriate to a entry-level position in the profession) within the designated track is required for successful completion of the internship program. Competence at the "intermediate" to "advanced" level is required for skills outside the intern's designated specialty track. Systematic training in the targeted professional competencies is assured through the following activities: (1) the direct provision of clinical services that all interns accrue on their two assessment/consultation days and two psychotherapy/supervision days per week; (2) the extensive ongoing individual and group supervision that averages more than six hours per week for each intern; (3) the four hours per week of involvement in research; and (4) the more than 150 hours per year of didactic training that addresses theories and methods of assessment/diagnosis and consultation, psychological interventions and their efficacy, strategies of scholarly inquiry, ethics and professional behavior, and issues of cultural and individual diversity.
Intern knowledge and competence are assessed on an ongoing basis through a variety of methods, including live observations of intern-patient interviews and testing, reviews of video- or audio-taped therapy sessions, detailed reviews of the intern's written assessment reports and treatment progress notes, observations of required intern presentations of case formulations and treatment planning, as well as formal and informal feedback from referral sources. In addition, beginning with the intern class of 2001-2002, we are piloting the use of a "mini-ABPP exam" to assess interns clinical competencies during the final quarter of the internship year. Each intern will complete a work sample representative of his/her practice in assessment and intervention, including (a) the theoretical rationale for the procedures used for assessment and intervention; (b) formulation of the problem and treatment goals; (c) discussion of the ethical and diversity issues involved; and (d) evaluation of the effects of the intervention. The intern will then undergo an oral "exam" based on the work sample. The exam will be conducted by the Internship Director and one other faculty member, and an evaluation of strengths and weaknesses will be provided to the intern based on the exam.
During the course of the internship year, feedback to interns about their progress in achieving competence in professional skills is accomplished through several means. First, each supervisor provides interns with verbal feedback about performance during the course of assessment rotations or therapy cases. Second, all supervisors complete detailed, written, scaled evaluations of the performance of each intern supervised during the quarter (please see Appendix H). Third, the entire faculty reviews and discusses the progress of each intern, on a quarterly basis, and makes individualized recommendations for training experiences for the following quarter. Fourth, the Internship Director meets individually with each intern to review the formal feedback from the faculty evaluations, to assist the intern in conducting a self-assessment of progress, and to integrate the evaluative information into the training plan for the remainder of the internship year. In addition, beginning with the current class, interns will also be provided with feedback from their "mini-ABPP" exams.
We expect that interns generally start the year of training with "beginning" to "intermediate" levels of knowledge and skill (i.e., that they require a relatively high degree of faculty input into the planning and provision of clinical services). As the training year progress, we expect that intern progress will be such that their levels of knowledge and skills will progress to the "intermediate" and eventually "advanced" (i.e., "professional-entry") level. The "advanced" or "entry" level is defined as knowledge and abilities required for the competent performance of professional psychology skills with minimal supervision. At the conclusion of the internship year, all interns are expected to demonstrate "advanced" skills with regard to knowledge and abilities in their designated specialty track. At the conclusion of the internship year, each intern is also expected to demonstrate "intermediate" to "advanced" proficiency with regard to competencies outside their designated specialty track. It is recognized that some competencies in non-specialty domains may appropriately be at the "intermediate" level at the conclusion of the internship year. For example, for an intern who is not in the neuropsychology track, an end-of-year evaluation of "intermediate" competence in neuropsychology would be viewed as fully satisfactory.
Competence in the understanding and application of ethical principles is stressed throughout the internship year. Interns are exposed early and often to the wide array of ethical issues that arise in clinical practice. Discussion of ethical issues is an important feature of didactic training and individual and group supervision and often arise in the Friday morning clinical case discussions. In didactic meetings, interns are required to demonstrate an ability to apply the APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct in a clinical context. Application of these principles is fostered through group discussions (during the intern didactic seminar series) of the possible courses of actions to be taken in specific case scenarios. Each intern is required to describe a personally encountered ethical dilemma and to detail the appropriate application of ethical principles to the resolution of the dilemma.
Knowledge and sensitivity to issues of individual and cultural diversity in psychological practice is ensured through a variety of means. Interns are prompted by the faculty to discuss these issues as they relate psychological assessment and treatment in individual and group supervision. A series of didactic and experiential presentations is devoted specifically to key issues of cultural and individual diversity. The topics include: "Understanding and Appreciating Diversity in Clinical Practice" (4 hours) by Mary Hamilton Howard, Ph.D.; "Working with Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Clients" (3 hours) by the staff of the Gainesville Gay and Lesbian Alliance; "Social-Cultural Issues in Couples and Family Therapy" (3 hours) by Andres Nazario, Ph.D.; and "Working With African-American Patients" (1 hour) by Duane Dede, Ph.D. Interns may also audit the "Diversity Issues in Clinical Psychology" course offered within the Department's doctoral program In addition, interns are asked to address diversity considerations in their required case presentations and mini-ABPP exams, and supervisory evaluation forms contain items that deal with sensitivity to issues of cultural and individual diversity.
B5. Implementation of Training Activities.
Procedures are in place to help ensure that interns' service delivery tasks are primarily learning oriented and that training considerations take precedence over service delivery and revenue generation. First, the faculty have operationally defined the number of clinical cases appropriate for an intern to see in a given day. For neuropsychology and child psychology assessments/consultations that employ a full battery of tests, interns are assigned one evaluation on a given assessment day and no more than two full evaluations per week. For health/medical psychology and other psychological evaluations with limited testing, interns are assigned two evaluations per assessment day and no more than four per week. (The exception to these guidelines is the clinical circumstance in which there is an urgent patient need and the postponement of services would be professionally inappropriate; it is expected that such circumstances will be rare rather than routine.) Second, the Clinic Management Committee conducts quarterly reviews of the number of clinic appointment slots that are available for assessments and consultations to ensure that the expected clinic workload is consonant with the training needs of our interns and practicum students. Third, interns' therapy caseloads are generally limited to 5-10 cases. Exceptions are made when an intern has a high number of patients who fail to show for appointments or when one or more of their cases require more intensive scheduling of treatment sessions.
The Internship Director reviews the individualized training plan of each intern to ensure that the plan is consistent with the Program's model, philosophy, and training goals. The faculty reviews the plan for each intern on a quarterly basis. Feedback from the faculty and recommendations for changes, if necessary, are discussed by the Director individually with each intern. Satisfactory progress is reflected at a minimum in progress from "beginning" level to "intermediate" levels of knowledge and skills from the start to the completion of a quarterly training period. We expect that after 12 weeks of training in a specific set of skills or with patients evidencing a particular presenting problem or diagnosis that the intern will demonstrate sufficient increases in skill acquisition and autonomy to warrant a consensus judgment by the faculty (who have had sufficient first-hand opportunities to observe the intern's clinical performance) that the intern has progressed to the "intermediate" level of clinical competence. For satisfactory progress at the conclusion of the internship year, each interns is expected to demonstrate an "advanced" level of knowledge, skills, and ability to function with a high level of autonomy in their designated specialty track, based on the consensus judgments of faculty who have had sufficient, first-hand opportunities to observe the intern's clinical performance. For satisfactory progress at the conclusion of the internship year, each intern is also expected to demonstrate at a minimum an "intermediate" level of knowledge, skills, and functional autonomy in training experiences that are not within his or her designated specialty track.
There are two other APA-approved internship programs in Gainesville: one at the University Counseling Center, the other at the VA Medical Center. Our Program is distinct from the other two programs in that it is the only one of the three that espouses a "scientist-practitioner" model of training; both of the other programs adhere to a "practitioner-scholar" model of training. The Counseling Center seeks to train interns who wish to pursue careers in University Counseling Centers. The VA Internship Program focuses on adult generalist training with a goal of preparing interns for careers as practitioners. In contrast, we combine general training with specialty training in four distinct areas, and our program is designed to prepare interns for careers as scientists, as practitioners, or both.
DOMAIN C: Program Resources
C1. Training Supervisors.
A the present time, 26 faculty member in our Department serve as "training supervisors" in the Internship Program (Drs. Ashkanazi, Bauer, Belar [on leave], Boggs, Bowers, Craven, Dede, Evans, Eyberg, Fennell, Geffken, Glueckauf, Guenther, Gylys, Hoffman, J. Johnson, Kerkhoff, Kilbourn, Perlstein, Perri, Robinson, Rodrigue, Rozensky, Sears, Strauss, & Waxenberg). These faculty members have direct supervisory contact with the interns and are actively involved in the planning and implementation of the internship program. There are two training supervisors from the Psychology Service of the Gainesville VA Medical Center who currently have supervisory contact with our interns but are not involved in the planning and implementation of the internship program (Drs. Freeman and Mann). There are also 9 additional faculty members in our Department who do not have supervisory contact with the interns but who provide training experiences such as didactic presentations and/or the opportunity for participation in their clinical research programs (Drs. Bradley, Brown, Crosson, Frank, S. Johnson [on leave], Lang, Marsiske, Quittner, & Tsao). Table 2 lists the faculty, their percentage of time assigned to the Internship Program, their role or contribution to the Program, and their demographics. Appendix I includes the abbreviated curriculum vitae of the faculty. At the present time, the faculty in our Department includes 20 Caucasian men (57%), 12 Caucasian women (34%), 1 African-American man (3%), 1 African American woman (3%), and 1 Asian-American woman (3%).
The training supervisors have primary responsibility for professional services delivered through the Psychology Clinic, the primary training site for our Internship Program. All 26 training supervisors are doctoral-level clinical or counseling psychologists, and all are currently licensed as psychologists in the State of Florida and have clinical privileges in Shands Teaching Hospital. The two supervisors from the VA Medical Center are also licensed doctoral-level psychologists. Five of the nine other contributors to the program are licensed psychologists in the State of Florida; two of the four remaining faculty have doctoral degrees in nonclinical areas, and thus are not licensed; their contributions to the program are in the areas of didactics and research rather than clinical supervision. In addition, of the remaining two "other contributors," one is licensed as psychologist in another state, and the other is currently applying for licensure in Florida.
Our faculty includes a distinguished group of scientist-practitioner psychologists. Ten of the faculty are Fellows of the American Psychological Association (Drs. Bauer, Belar, Crosson, Eyberg, Fennell, Frank, S. Johnson, Lang, Perri, and Rozensky), and eleven are Diplomates of the American Board of Professional Psychology (Drs. Bauer, Belar, Crosson, Eyberg, Fennell, Frank, Guenther, Kerkhoff, S. Johnson, Perri, & Rozensky). Five of the faculty are past presidents of APA Divisions (Dr. Belar [Division 38-Health Psychology]; Dr. Fennell [Division 40-Neuropsychology]; Dr. Frank [Division 22-Rehabilitation], Dr. Glueckauf [Division 22-Rehabilitation], and Dr. S. Johnson [Division 38-Health Psychology]). At the same time that they are serving as clinical supervisors, the majority of our faculty are also conducting empirical research on issues of clinical significance. At the current time, 16 of our faculty members are serving as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on federally funded research grants (Drs. Bauer, Boggs, Bowers, Bradley, Crosson, Evans, Eyberg, Fennell, Glueckauf, S. Johnson, Lang, Perlstein, Perri, Quittner, Robinson, and Rodrigue). In addition, 13 of our faculty are currently editors or editorial board members of scientific and professional journals in psychology (Drs. Bauer, Boggs, Crosson, Eyberg, Fennell, Frank, Glueckauf, S. Johnson, Lang, Perri, Quittner, Rodrigue, and Rozensky).
All training supervisors have 12-month appointments and play an active role in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the Internship Program. The faculty are well suited to serve not only as clinical supervisors but also as professional role models whose clinical and scientific contributions are consistent with the training philosophy and objectives of the Internship Program. Moreover, given our considerable research expertise, the faculty are in an especially favorable position to review with interns the relative scientific and empirical bases for the professional services typically delivered through the Psychology Clinic. Indeed, we were recently notified that we have been selected as the "2001 Department of the Year" by the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS).
Quality control standards to assess competence in training supervisors is accomplished via several steps. First, a faculty member who serves as a training supervisor must have successfully completed both a doctoral degree and internship in professional psychology programs accredited by the American Psychological Association. Second, the faculty member must be eligible for licensure as a psychologist in the State of Florida. Third, the faculty member must have satisfactory recommendations from previous supervisors regarding their clinical competence. Fourth, a review of the faculty member's professional credentials must endorsed by our Department Chair as a prerequisite for attainment of clinical privileges in Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics. Fifth, regular CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement) audits and patient satisfaction surveys (see Appendix J) and reviews of feedback from interns (Appendix H) are used to gauge the quality ongoing clinical performance by training supervisors. Faculty members who begin their appointments without a Florida license are paired with a senior faculty member who provides training and supervision until the new faculty member receives a license and clinical privileges.
C2. The Interns.
Summary data describing our interns over the past five years are presented in Tables 3 and 4. The size of our intern class has ranged from 8 interns in 1998-1999 to 13 interns in 2000-2001. The current intern class (2001-2002) has 12 members. The number of applications to our program has remained relatively constant. In each of the past 4 years, we have received between 180 - 190 applications. All of our interns over the past five years have come from APA-approved programs in clinical or counseling psychology, and most are from programs with a "scientist-practitioner" model of doctoral training. All of our interns have had substantial numbers of hours of supervised practicum training, including face-to-face delivery of professional psychological services. For example, interns in the 2001-2002 class had a mean number of 2,429 supervised practicum hours (range = 1,549 to 3,528) including a mean of 423 supervised therapy hours (range = 194 to 893). These numbers reflect well on the practicum preparation that our interns have had prior to the start of their training with us.
Many of the interns who are admitted to our program have already published scientific or professional journal articles or have presented papers at professional meetings. In our current class, for example, 11 of 12 interns have authored or co-authored refereed journal articles (92%), and 10 of 12 have presented papers at professional meetings (83%). The interest and experience of many of our interns in professional/scientific publications and presentations may account in part for their attraction to our program and its faculty who identify themselves as scientist-practitioners. Furthermore, our educational philosophy and training model is clearly described for prospective interns in our website materials (Appendix B) and in a group presentation by the Intern Director during our on-campus admissions interview days.
Many of our intern applicants report that they are interested in our program because it is based in an academic health science center, and they perceive this environment to be supportive of their development as scientist-practitioners. Indeed, many express a desire to be employed in such a setting, and academic health science centers comprise the type of setting in which the largest number of our intern graduates have been employed over the past ten years. Table 5 contains the post-internship experiences of our interns over the past five years.
The training status of interns is officially recognized by their title "Psychology Intern." Interns are involved in many decisions that shape and enhance their training with us. As noted in the description of our training plan (Domain B), the specific course of training is tailored individually to each intern's particular training needs. At the outset of the internship year, the Internship Director together with each intern reviews the intern's prior practicum training experiences, including comments from the intern's home program, and facilitates a self-assessment of professional training needs. The outcome of this review is a written product which delineates goals for internship training across the following five categories: (1) assessment and consultation skills (e.g., interviewing, testing, independent case conceptualization, report writing, feedback to referral sources, etc.); (2) intervention skills (e.g., individual, marital/couples, family, or group psychotherapy, etc.); (3) populations (e.g., children, adolescents, adults, elderly, medical surgical, pediatric, psychiatric, neurological patients, etc.); (4) theoretical orientations (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, systems, interpersonal, dynamic, eclectic, etc.); and (5) other skills (e.g., supervisory experience, research involvement, etc.). The goals statement is reviewed quarterly and is updated based on the intern's progress and input from the written and oral feedback from the intern's training supervisors.
C3. Other Resources.
The Internship Program is housed within the University of Florida Health Science Center, which is comprised of six colleges (Health Professions, Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine) Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, and the UF Health Science Library. (Please see Appendix K for brochures describing the Health Science Center, the College of Health Professions, and the Psychology Clinic.) The adjacent Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center is also a collaborative unit in the health center complex. The location of the Psychology Internship Program within an academic health science center promotes the integration of science and practice, multi-disciplinary collaboration, exposure to advanced trainees from other programs, and health-related research and services. For example, Department faculty and interns regularly participate in activities of the Center for Neuropsychological Studies, the UF McKnight Brain Institute, the Center for Pain and Health Behavior Research, the Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, the Transplant Center, and the Center for Pediatric Psychology Research. In addition, the Health Science Center Library, to which interns have full and easy access, includes 220,000 volumes, more than 2,000 journals.
The Psychology Clinic, directed by Dr. Glenn Ashkanazi, is the major clinical teaching facility for the Department (please see Appendix K for a copy of the Clinic's brochure and Appendix E, which includes the Psychology Clinic's Policies and Procedures Manual). All interns obtain the major portion of their training in this setting. The Clinic provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services to the patients of Shands Teaching Hospital and to the community, and thus has a sufficiently diverse population to support clinical training. The Clinic averages about 625 patient contacts per month. Of these, approximately 150 are for diagnostic assessments/consultations, and the remainder are intervention contacts (including individual, couple, family, and group psychotherapy). The Clinic provides adequate space (3,434 square feet) for assessment and treatment activities by the faculty, interns, and students of the Department. Virtually all interview rooms are equipped with unobtrusive video cameras that allow for either the taping of sessions or live observation via remote monitors in a control room.
The Department currently occupies approximately 23,000 square feet of space (including the Psychology Clinic). The offices for the faculty and eight of the interns are housed contiguously with the Psychology Clinic area and the Department's research laboratories and conference rooms. The offices of the four child psychology interns are located nearby in the Department of Psychiatry. The eight interns housed within our Department share two large and one medium sized rooms (728 sq. ft. total). The four interns housed in the Psychiatry Department have small to medium sized individual offices (each with 100-150 sq. ft.). Each intern is provided with an individual desk, storage space, and a personal computer with Internet access. Through our college network, each computer has a variety of software programs for word-processing (MS Word 2000), statistical analyses (SPSS 10.1; MS Excel 2000) presentation graphics (MS PowerPoint), and each office is equipped with a printer. The Department has a full-time computer technician who is available to assist faculty and interns with technical support. In addition, the support staff of the Psychology Clinic is available to assist interns in dealing with technical and administrative matters (e.g., maintaining psychological test materials, interfacing with insurance companies, etc.). Similarly, the educational and research support staff of the Department are available to assist interns in technical matters related to their academic and scholarly endeavors (e.g., photocopying of journal articles, preparation of proposals for Institutional Review Board approval, etc.).
The salary and benefits for 10.5 intern FTEs are provided directly by the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology. The Department of Psychiatry provides financial support equivalent to the salary and benefits for 1.5 intern FTEs. Interns in the class of 2001-2002 are receiving a total of $16,400 per annum, paid in biweekly installments. In addition, they also received a $800 allotment for use toward the purchase of health insurance. Interns may purchase a health plan provided to students by the University or they may select a private policy of their choice. Alternatively, if they already have coverage from another source (e.g., family), they may use the $800 as an addition to their stipend. For the incoming intern class of 2002-2003, the annual stipend will be $17,000 and the health insurance allotment will be $1,000.
Our APA-approved doctoral program in clinical psychology also represents a significant resource to our Internship Program in several ways. For example, with the approval from the Director of Clinical Training, interns have the opportunity to audit doctoral courses. From time to time, interns have taken advantage of this option and have audited advanced doctoral courses in higher brain function and in behavioral medicine. In addition, the presence of graduate students completing clinical practica provides our interns for opportunities to gain supervisory experiences. Indeed, all our interns are expected during the second half of the internship year to complete some training experiences in supervision. Finally, contact with graduate students from our doctoral program provides interns with opportunities for both professional and personal social contacts. Students also play a significant role in intern orientation and in assisting interns in adjusting to site-specific policies and procedures.
DOMAIN D: Cultural and Individual Differences and Diversity
D1. Faculty and Intern Diversity.
The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology is committed to systematic and concerted efforts to recruiting faculty from varying ethnic, racial, and personal backgrounds. Whenever a vacancy in a faculty position occurs, a search committee is formed with the explicit charge of conducting active nationwide search to identify women and minority group members as potential candidates for the position. Accordingly, the following steps are taken. First, the position is advertised nationally in appropriate professional outlets (e.g., the APA Monitor, the Chronicle of Higher Education, etc.). A list is composed of five nationally prominent psychologists who are in positions to identify or nominate women who are potential candidates for the vacancy. A second list of five nationally prominent psychologists who are in positions to identify or nominate minority group members who are potential candidates for the vacancy is also constructed. All persons on these lists are contacted, and each is asked to generate several nominations of women or minorities. The Search Committee then contacts all individuals who are nominated as potential candidates and a detailed description of the available position is provided along with information about the Department and the University. All potential candidates are invited to apply for the position. After a careful review of all applicants, a short list of candidates to be invited for interviews is constructed. This list of 3 to 6 candidates will include women and minority candidates. Following the interviews with all candidates, the Search Committee then recommends acceptable candidates to the Chair of the Department who then makes the final selection.
Since 1997, three faculty members have retired (Drs. Davis, Goldman, and Perry [former Chair]), and three others have taken positions at other institutions (Drs. Kassel, Kashakar-Zuck, and McCaskill). Since 1997, there have been 15 faculty hires (including both full- and part-time positions) in the Department (Drs. Ashkanazi, Bowers, Brown, Craven [part-time], Glueckauf, Guenther, Kerkhoff [part-time], Kilbourn, Marsiske [part-time], Perlstein, Quittner, Rozensky [Chair], Tsao, Walker-Barnes, and Waxenberg). Eight of the 15 positions (53%) have been filled by women (Drs. Bowers, Brown, Craven, Hoffman, Kilbourn, Quittner, Tsao, and Walker Barnes), including two African American woman (Drs. Brown and Walker-Barnes) and one Asian-American woman (Dr. Tsao). Unfortunately, Dr. Walker Barnes has recently left our Department to take a tenure track faculty position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The position, which she vacated, was offered to a African American woman who subsequently declined our offer. The search remains active, and we are particularly interested in attracting a candidate who will enhance the diversity of our faculty. At the present time, 43% of our faculty are women and 9% are minority group members. These percentages are close to the national data showing medians of 50% for women and 10% for minority group membership among the staffs of internship programs (APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, 2000).
The Internship Program actively seeks to recruit interns from different ethnic, racial and personal backgrounds. We directly solicit applications from minority group members via a special invitation to APA Minority Fellows. Each receives a personal correspondence from the Training Director along with a brochure, an application, and a description of the Gainesville community. Each is invited to apply to our Program, and each is invited to contact the Training Director with questions or requests for further information. In addition, members of ethnic and racial minority groups are encouraged to identify themselves on our application cover sheet. This permits us implement more effectively an Affirmative Action approach to recruitment. Special efforts are made to provide all minority candidates with follow-up contacts by the Director or appropriate faculty or interns. The purpose of these contacts is to solicit questions or concerns about the Program in general and to address any special issues that are unique to the individual based on his or her minority group status.
Over the past ten years, we have made progress in attracting a more diverse group of interns. In the early nineties all of our interns in three successive classes were Caucasians. However, in all but one year since 1992, one or more interns in each intern class has been a member of an ethnic/racial minority group, and we have had several interns who were foreign nationals and one physically-challenged intern. In our current class, we have one African- American man, and a French-Canadian woman (who is a Canadian citizen and not a resident alien). Over the past five years, 13% of our interns have been minority group members. National data (APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, 2000) indicate across all internships a median of 17% of interns from minority groups. (Note. We have offered admission to many more minority group members than have accepted.)
D2. Training in Diversity.
As noted in section B4, Knowledge and sensitivity to issues of individual and cultural diversity in psychological practice is ensured through a variety of means. Interns are prompted by the faculty to discuss these issues as they relate psychological assessment and treatment in individual and group supervision. A series of didactic and experiential presentations is devoted specifically to key issues of cultural and individual diversity. The topics include: "Understanding and Appreciating Diversity in Clinical Practice" (4 hours) by Mary Hamilton Howard, Ph.D.; "Working with Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Clients" (3 hours) by the staff of the Gainesville Gay and Lesbian Alliance; "Social-Cultural Issues in Couples and Family Therapy" (3 hours) by Andres Nazario, Ph.D.; and "Working With African-American Patients" (1 hour) by Duane Dede, Ph.D. Interns are also asked to address diversity considerations in their required case presentations, and supervisory evaluation forms contain items that deal with sensitivity to issues of cultural and individual diversity. Finally, interns have been encouraged to audit courses offered in our doctoral curriculum that address human diversity issues. For example, interns in our current class will be encouraged to participate in Dr. Lisa Brown's course, "Diversity Issues in Clinical Psychology" will be offered in the Spring Semester, 2002.
DOMAIN E: Intern-Staff Relations
E1 & 3. Respect for Interns and Intern Rights.
Our Program is committed to treating interns with courtesy and respect. Interns are viewed as junior colleagues, and the faculty strives in all interactions to treat interns with dignity and with concern for their welfare as trainees and as persons. Moreover, the faculty show respect for cultural and individual diversity among interns. Interns are apprised of the APA ethical standards regarding their treatment as students, and they are informed of the various formal and informal means of assistance in event of difficulties in this area both in the Internship Handbook (Appendix B) and in the University of Florida Graduate Students Handbook (Appendix C). Interns are also afforded the opportunity for personal counseling, and appropriate assistance to attain such services are arranged on a confidential basis by the Internship Director. Over the past five years, the Director has arranged on a confidential basis for two interns to get professional assistance from qualified mental health professionals outside the Department on a reduced or no fee basis. In addition, as described in the UF Graduate Student Handbook (Appendix C), the University offers support services available to interns through the following organizations/programs: the Office of Graduate Minority Programs; the Black Graduate Student Organization; the Hispanic Graduate Student Association; the University Libraries; the Career Resource Center; the Student Health Care Service; the Speech and Hearing Clinic; the Students with Disabilities Association; and the International Student Services program.
E2. Faculty Accessibility.
The faculty are accessible to interns and provide the professional guidance and supervision needed to foster successful completion of the internship. In addition, the faculty assist interns in career and personal development. As a group, the interns are provided with a series of didactic presentations on career development (by Drs. Perri, Sears, and Dede), and on an individual level, interns are provided with guidance and leads in pursuing postdoctoral training and employment opportunities. In addition, a master list of job announcements and fellowship opportunities is maintained on an ongoing basis by the Program Secretary to help keep interns abreast of current options for training or employment, and the faculty regularly use e-mail distribution lists to keep interns apprised of career opportunities. In those instances where it comes to the attention of the faculty that an intern is experiencing personal difficulties and could profit from professional help, appropriate arrangements are made to provide such assistance.
E4. Feedback to Interns.
As previously noted, intern progress is assessed on an ongoing basis through a variety of methods, including live observations of intern-patient interviews and testing, reviews of video- or audio-taped therapy sessions, detailed reviews of the intern's written assessment reports and treatment progress notes, observations of required intern presentations of case formulations and treatment planning, and informal feedback from referral sources. Feedback to interns about their progress in achieving competence in professional skills is accomplished through several means. First, each supervisor provides interns with verbal feedback about performance during the course of assessment rotations or therapy cases. Second, all supervisors complete detailed, written, scaled evaluations of the performance of each intern supervised during the quarter. Third, the entire faculty conducts quarterly reviews of intern progress and makes individualized recommendations for training experiences for the following quarter. Fourth, the Internship Director meets individually with each intern to review the formal feedback from the faculty evaluations, to assist the intern in conducting a self-assessment of progress, and to integrate the evaluative information into the training plan and training goals for the remainder of the internship training period. Finally, at mid-year (or sooner if warranted by the presence of a significant issue) and at year-end, the Internship Director writes a letter to the Director of Clinical Training of each intern's doctoral program. This letter summarizes the intern's progress. Each intern is asked to read this letter and to sign it prior to mailing. The intern is encouraged to indicate points of agreement or disagreement either in the letter itself or in a separate correspondence to his or her Director of Clinical Training.
Minor deficiencies in intern preparation or performance are generally remediated through the course of normal interaction with the intern's supervisor(s). The remediation may consist of didactic supervisory instruction, modeling of techniques by the supervisor, and/or readings in the appropriate literature. When the deficiency is in the domain of experience, the intern may be assigned additional relevant cases to provide the needed exposure. Minor deficiencies in experience, training, or performance are communicated to the Director of Clinical Training from the intern's home program in the context of the mid-year evaluation letter. Since interns undergo ongoing informal evaluation and receive formal quarterly evaluations from faculty, major deficiencies are generally detected early, usually the during first quarter of training.
When a major deficiency is detected, three steps are taken. First, the intern is placed on "probationary status" to communicate clearly that significant improvement in performance is needed for successful completion of the internship and that failure to remediate the deficiency could result in dismissal from the internship program. Second, a remediation plan is developed by the faculty and the Internship Director to ameliorate the noted deficiency. Such plans typically involve increased supervisory contacts (for both training and evaluation) along with intensive variations of the remediation methods used to deal with minor deficiencies (as described above). The remediation plan specifies the required changes in performance along with a timetable for re-evaluation of progress. Third, the Director of Clinical Training at the intern's home program is notified by the Internship Director first by telephone and then in a written correspondence with a copy provided to the intern. The input of the Director of Clinical Training from the intern's home department is sought in the remediation plan, and he or she is kept abreast of the intern's progress through follow-up contacts both by telephone and by mail. If the deficiency is remediated, probationary status is lifted. If the intern fails to remediate the deficiency, the faculty carefully reviews evaluations from the intern's supervisors as well as the intern's self-evaluation of progress. The faculty then decides whether sufficient progress has been made to warrant continuation of the probationary status, with the expectation that the deficiency will be remediated, or whether dismissal from the program is warranted by the intern's failure to demonstrate progress.
Over the past ten years, major deficiencies in performance have been noted in 2 of our 99 interns (2%). In one instance, the deficiency in performance was satisfactorily remediated, the probationary status was lifted, and the intern went on to successful completion of the internship program. In the other instance, the intern made minimal progress in remediating the deficient skill (i.e., ability to administer intelligence tests in a reliable and valid manner). The intern decided that the substantial emphasis on assessment in our program did not match her major interests and skills (i.e., psychotherapy). Consequently, she elected to withdraw voluntarily from the internship program with the intention of seeking an internship more closely suited to her professional interests.
Interns are apprised of the evaluative process in several ways. First, the procedures are described in Internship Handbook and on our website. Second, the Internship Director details the evaluation process to all prospective interns during their visits to our program. Third, during the orientation period, the Internship Director again reviews the evaluation process, and interns are given copies of the evaluation forms used by supervisors to provide written quarterly feedback about intern's progress.
A stepped-approach is used in the resolution of disputes and grievances. These steps, which are noted in the Internship Handbook and our website (Appendix B, pp. 12-13) and which are specified in the Graduate Student Handbook (Appendix C, pp. 35-37), are outlined in detail for interns during the orientation period. Interns are encouraged to resolve problems directly with the individual(s) involved if at all possible. Interns may seek the advice and guidance of the Internship Director in resolving problems at this level. If this procedure is not successful, the intern may ask the Internship Director to intervene. In such a case, the Internship Director collects all relevant information from the intern and other parties and consults with other faculty and staff as is appropriate to the specific situation. Subsequently, the Director brings the relevant individuals together and presents a plan for resolution of the problem. The Director then follows up with the intern and other relevant parties to determine whether a successful resolution of the problem has been achieved. If the grievance is such that the intern believes that the complaint cannot be brought to the Internship Director, or if the intern wishes to appeal the Director's decision, the intern may bring the problem to the Department Chair for resolution. Finally, if appropriate redress of the problem cannot be achieved within the Department, the intern may pursue a grievance or appeal procedure to the Dean of the College of Health Professions. Over the past five years, we have had two situations in which interns have consulted with the Internship Director about difficulties encountered with two different individual training supervisors. In the first situation, the intern was concerned about the supervisor's "unfairly" requiring multiple revisions of assessment reports; in the second situation, the intern felt that the quarterly evaluation provided by the supervisor was lower than warranted by the intern's performance. In each instance, the "problem" was resolved via additional discussion with the respective intern and supervisor, and no formal complaint or grievance was filed.
E5. Certificate of Internship Completion.
At the conclusion of the internship year, all interns who have successfully completed the training program are awarded a certificate of completion. A copy of the certificate may be found in Appendix L.
E6. Intern Grievances.
No formal grievances have been filed by interns over the past five years, and there have been no known instances of misconduct by training staff with regard to their interactions with interns.
DOMAIN F: Program Self-Assessment and Quality Enhancement
F1. Self-Assessment.
Following our last site visit in 1997, the Committee on Accreditation encouraged "further attention to seeking ways of increasing clerical support, continuing efforts to recruit staff and interns of ethnic and cultural diversity, and ensuring that diversity issues (i.e., gay/lesbian issues) are included in the curriculum." Since 1997, the following changes have occurred to address these concerns:
- Significant increases in Departmental support staff have occurred. We have increased the FTE of our educational support staff from 1.0 to 2.0; we have increased the FTE of our clinical support staff from 2.0 to 4.0; and we have increased the FTE of our research support staff from 0 to 3.0.
- We added two African-American women and one Asian-American woman to our faculty. Unfortunately, one of the African-American women has recently left, but our effort to increase diversity in our faculty continues.
- The ethnic and cultural diversity represented in our intern group has been reflected by the inclusion of three African Americans, three Hispanic Americans, one French Canadian, and one multi-racial individual. Here also our efforts to attract an ethnically and culturally diverse groups of interns continue.
- We have expanded significantly our didactic training related to issues of diversity. In 1997, only two hours of didactics were devoted to diversity issues. We currently have 10 hours of didactics dealing with human diversity including seminar offerings entitled: "Understanding and Appreciating Diversity in Clinical Practice" (4 hours), "Working with Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Clients" (3 hours), "Social-Cultural Issues in Couples and Family Therapy" (3 hours), and "Working With African-American Patients" (1 hour).
In summary, since 1997 we have made substantive progress with regard to increasing
our support staff and including additional didactic offerings that address diversity
issues in our curriculum. We have been moderately successful in maintaining
diversity among our intern classes and have had modicum of success in increasing
the diversity of our faculty.
Programmatic self-assessment and quality enhancement is carried out through
a variety of means including: (1) an ongoing review of the type and frequency
of clinical training experiences of each intern and how well those experiences
meet the intern's training goals; (2) faculty assessment of intern's competence
in professional skills, their understanding of ethical and professional issues,
and sensitivity to issues of individual and cultural diversity; (3) assessment
by current interns of the quality of their clinical training experiences; (4)
periodic surveys of intern graduates regarding their post-internship professional
experiences and accomplishments as well as their evaluation of the quality of
internship training in preparing them for their professional careers; and (5)
periodic reviews by the faculty to assess the need for adjustments in the internship
program consistent with programmatic feedback or with local, regional or national
needs. The specific methods by which these self-assessment activities are carried
out are described below.
Logs of all clinical contacts by interns are maintained through the Psychology
Clinic. Team Leaders review intern and student caseloads weekly to assure appropriate
case assignment and distribution. Each intern is provided with a list of his
or her patient contacts during the previous month. The listing indicates whether
the patient was seen for assessment or treatment. The intern reviews the list
and notes the specific training objective for each contact. The log, which then
becomes part of the intern's training folder, provides documentation of the
nature and frequency of all clinical experiences. The Program Director reviews
the logs of all interns on a monthly basis to determine whether the clinical
experiences are providing breadth and depth of training required to meet the
individualized goals set for the intern. When necessary, corrective steps are
taken to ensure that clinical experiences are consistent with intern's training
goals.
Intern competence in essential professional skills is assessed on an ongoing
basis through a variety of methods, including live observations of intern-patient
interviews and testing, reviews of video- or audio-taped therapy sessions, detailed
reviews of the intern's written assessment reports and treatment progress notes,
observations of required intern presentations of case formulations and treatment
planning, and informal feedback from referral sources. Supervisors complete
detailed, written, scaled evaluations of the performance of each intern supervised
during the quarter. The specific skills evaluated include: (1) clinical interviewing
(2) the selection, use, and interpretation of standardized psychological tests
and measures relevant to forming a diagnosis, conceptualization, or treatment
plan; (3) case conceptualization and report writing (4) psychological treatment;
(5) consultation with other professionals; and (6) awareness of issues of professional
ethics and individual and cultural diversity as they affect the practice of
psychology. The entire faculty reviews the written evaluations, discusses the
progress of each intern, and if necessary makes individualized recommendations
for adjustments in future training experiences
On a quarterly basis, an individual session is conducted by the Program Director
with each intern. In addition to providing the interns with feedback from the
faculty about their performance, these sessions are used to solicit the interns'
opinions about the quality and type of training that they are receiving. Specific
areas of focus include: the amount and quality of supervision received in assessment,
consultation, and psychotherapy; the quality and ease of access to various patient
populations; and the quality of didactic presentations. In addition, at the
end of each quarter, interns anonymously complete a Supervisor Evaluation Form
for each supervisor with whom they have worked during that quarter (please see
Appendix H for a copy). The forms are informally and confidentially reviewed
by the Internship Director and the Department Chair as a quality assurance check
and to ascertain whether any problems noted were of sufficient magnitude to
warrant immediate attention. To encourage candid feedback by the interns, the
results of the evaluations are not shared with the faculty until the end of
the internship year. Finally, at the end of the internship year, the Director
conducts an "exit interview" with each intern. Interns are asked to
discuss and to describe in a written summary their perceptions of the strengths
and weaknesses of the internship program along with specific recommendations
for improvement.
Periodic surveys are conducted of intern graduates regarding their post-internship professional experiences and accomplishments as well as their evaluation of the quality of internship training in preparing them for their professional careers. The most recent survey was conducted during the summer of 2001 with intern graduates over the past ten years (1992-2001). The return rate was excellent; 92 of our 99 graduates (93%) completed and returned the survey. The results of this anonymous survey are presented in their entirety in Table 7. The findings from the survey of internship graduate provide one important source of information about how well the program is accomplishing the distal outcomes specified in Table 6.
The survey findings show that the majority of our graduates (62%) go onto postdoctoral training before beginning their careers as independent professionals. Once employed, the largest portion of our graduates (37%) obtains positions in academic health science centers. The next most common employment sites are university departments of psychology (18%) hospitals (16%), and independent practice (15%). Almost two-thirds of our graduates from 1992-2001 are already licensed psychologists, and most of those not already licensed have an application in process. Half of our graduates currently have hospital practice privileges. Very high percentages have engaged in scholarly activities; two-thirds have published scientific or professional articles (M = 4.7 articles); 61% have presented papers at regional or national meetings (M = 4.1); and 32% have received grants or contracts. (Table 8 provides a list of publications and presentations that our interns and intern graduates have co-authored with our faculty members over the past five years, including 32 journal articles, 7 book chapters, 13 published abstracts, and 15 presentations.) Nearly three-quarters of our graduates are APA members, and 14% have received awards or professional recognition. As a group, our intern graduates are satisfied (50%) or very satisfied (46%) with their careers as psychologists. However, many are dissatisfied (41%) or very dissatisfied (12%) with their income as psychologists, with 44% of them making less than $50,000 per year and only 17% making more than $75,000 per year.
In terms of their evaluations of their internship training experiences, the overwhelming majority viewed the internship as providing them with "excellent" (67%) or "very good" (29%) preparation for their work as psychologists, and their training as scientist-practitioners was rated as "excellent" by 52% and as "very good" by 32%. Similarly, training in assessment was rated as "excellent" by 69% and as "very good" by 27% of the interns. Training in psychological interventions and diversity issues received favorable though somewhat lower ratings. Training in interventions was categorized as "excellent" by 19% and as "very good" by 51% of the interns. Training in diversity issues was described as "excellent" by 7% and as "very good" by 35%. In response to open-ended questions about the "strengths" and "weaknesses" of our Program, the majority of graduates (54%) cited the quality of the faculty/supervision as the greatest strength of our Program. Other strengths cited were "breadth of training experiences" noted by 38% and the quality of "assessment training" cited by 26%. Weaknesses included a high "workload" (23%), "psychotherapy training" (14%), and too little "time for research" (10%). When asked if they had it to do over, 95% of our graduates indicated that they would again select UF for internship, whereas 3% were uncertain and 2% reported that they would not return.
Overall, the survey findings are very positive, both in terms of the accomplishments of our graduates and their favorable perspective on the quality of their internship experience. We get especially high marks for educating interns as scientist-practitioners and for training in assessment and consultation. Training in psychotherapy and human diversity issues, while fully satisfactory from the perspective of our graduates, represent areas that might profit from additional attention. Concerns about workload noted in the survey are mitigated to some extent by changes that we have made during the past three years. Specifically, we have "capped" the number of evaluations conducted by interns per week (e.g., no more than two "full" evaluations per week) to prevent the workload from becoming excessive. Indeed, only one intern in the each of the last two classes noted a high "workload" as a weakness of the program.
Based on a collective review of all proximal and distal outcomes associated with each of our goals and objectives, we have evaluated our performance, and we have targeted selected areas for improvement. The summary self-assessment for each goal appears below.
GOAL 1. To produce graduates who have the requisite knowledge and skills in psychological assessment for entry-level practice of professional.
Self-assessment: Excellent performance.
Comment: We believe that our performance in meeting this goal has been superior. We will continue to strive to provide a high quality of training in this domain.
GOAL 2. To produce graduates who have the requisite knowledge and skills
in consultation and communication for entry-level practice of professional psychology.
Self- assessment: Very good performance.
Comment: We believe that our performance in meeting this goal has been superior. We will continue to strive to provide a high quality of training in this domain.
GOAL 3. To produce graduates who have the requisite knowledge and skills in psychotherapeutic interventions for entry-level practice of professional psychology.
Self-assessment: Satisfactory performance.
Comment: We believe that our performance in meeting this goal has been fully satisfactory. Nonetheless, we see room for improvement. In our Program, interns receive multiple hours per week of direct observation in assessment and consultation skills. In contrast, the amount of direct observation in psychotherapeutic interventions has been quite limited. In some instances, interns and supervisors have relied solely on the interns' reports of therapy progress rather than on live observations or reviews of video or audiotapes. One obstacle in this regard has been the videotaping capabilities of our Clinic. Accordingly, we are taking two actions. First, the videotaping capacity of the Clinic is currently being upgraded with state-of-the-art equipment that will permit high quality color recording of therapy sessions in all treatment rooms. Second, all interns and supervisors will be expected to have either direct observation or videotaped review of some therapy sessions for all clients (with client permission).
GOAL 4. To produce graduates with the requisite knowledge of professional
standards, ethics, and legal issues for entry-level practice of professional
psychology.
Self- assessment: Very good performance.
Comment: We believe that our performance in meeting this goal has been fully satisfactory. We will continue to strive to provide a high quality of training in this domain.
GOAL 5. To produce graduates with requisite knowledge and respect of
cultural and individual diversity for entry-level practice of professional psychology.
Self- assessment: Satisfactory performance.
Comment: We believe that our performance in meeting this goal has improved significantly since the last site visit. Nonetheless, we see room for improvement. Interns report that the quality of the didactic presentations has been somewhat uneven. We are currently seeking alternative presenters for those presentations that received lower evaluations by the interns. In addition, beginning with the Spring semester of 2002 (and continuing annually thereafter, interns will be encouraged to audit a course (Diversity Issues in Clinical Psychology) taught be Dr. Lisa Brown of our faculty that addresses key issues in human diversity. We expect that all interns will be able to take part in some of the classes from this course, and we believe that this experience will be an important addition to our didactic offerings related to cultural and individual diversity.
GOAL 6. To produce graduates with the requisite knowledge of the strategies of scholarly inquiry and methods of supervision and clinical teaching for entry-level practice of professional psychology.
Self- assessment: Very good performance.
Comment: Intern participation in scholarly activities has increased significantly since the last site visit (see Table 8) due in large part to the development of research contracts for 10% time for such activities. Participation in supervision and clinical teaching has been less uniform. Some interns have done significant amounts of supervision, yet others have not. Accordingly, we are monitoring intern involvement in clinical supervision to ensure that, during the second half of the internship year, each intern has the opportunity to supervise a minimum of two assessment cases and one therapy case.
At this point, national standards do not exist as a comparative reference for the demonstration of specific competencies acquired during internship training. However, there are data from APPIC, APA, and various surveys that allow meaningful comparison between our program and national norms with regard to (a) the preparation of incoming interns, (b) the types of training activities completed during internship, (c) the participation of interns in scholarly activities, and (d) the employment settings of intern graduates.
With regard to the preparation for internship, our interns have a greater number of incoming practicum hours than the national average (Ms = 2,429 vs.1941, respectively; APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, 2000). A higher percentage of our interns are authors or co-authors of journal articles than the national average (65% vs. 40%, respectively; APA 2000). Training in psychological assessment and consultation skills represents a relatively larger proportion of our interns educational experience compared to the national average; however, our emphasis on assessment/consultation is consistent with other internship training sites that are housed in medical schools or academic health science centers (Stedman, Hatch, & Schoenfeld, 2000a and 2000b). Compared to the national averages for clinical psychology (APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, 2000), larger percentages of our graduates are employed in academic health science centers, academic teaching positions, and general hospital settings. These data are summarized below.
Settings UF Graduates National Average
Academic Medical Center or Medical School 37% 12%
Academic Teaching Position 17% 8%
General Hospital or Private General Hospital 16% 6%
Independent Practice 14% 12%
The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology is an approved sponsor of continuing education for psychologists. We offer a weekly teaching conference that our faculty, interns, and students routinely attend. For faculty members, attendance at these sessions allows an accumulation of far more than the minimum number of continuing education hours (40 biennially) required for licensure renewal. In addition, the Department also provides each faculty member with an allotment of $750 per year to be used toward membership in professional and scientific organizations such as APA.
DOMAIN G: Public Disclosures
The Internship Program is described fully on our handbook and on our website
(Appendix B), which is available to current interns, prospective interns, and
all other interested parties. The handbook and website accurately reflect our
goals, objectives, and training model, and describe our admissions procedures
and training requirements. The handbook and website note our accreditation status
and also provide detailed information about available training experiences,
faculty, resources, and administrative procedures. Appendix E contains the Psychology
Clinic Policy and Procedures Manual, which is relevant to the day-to-day clinical
training activities of interns. Additional documents containing relevant policies
and procedures of the program and university include: the University of Florida
Graduate Student Handbook (Appendix C), which contains the grievance and due
process procedures applicable to interns, as well as the various University
resources available to interns; and portions of the University of Florida Faculty
Handbook (Appendix D), which contains the grievance and due process procedures
applicable to faculty members.
Current and former interns contributed key information in our accreditation
self-study efforts and were provided with copies of the results for their review
and comments.
DOMAIN H: Relationship with the Accrediting Body
The Internship Program strives to maintain full adherence with the published
policies and procedures of APA's Committee on Accreditation. No instances of
deviation from these policies have occurred over the past five years. The Internship
is in good standing with the accrediting body in terms of payment of fees associated
with the maintenance of its accreditation status.
REFERENCES
APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation (2000). Committee on Accreditation 1999: Annual Report. Washington: D.C.: APA.
Belar, C. D., & Perry, N. W. (1991). Proceedings of the National Conference on Scientist-Practitioner Education and Training for the Professional Practice of Psychology. Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Exchange, Inc.
Stedman J. M., Hatch, J. P., & Schoenfeld, L. S. (2000a). Availability of training in psychological testing and the psychotherapies during the pre-doctoral internship. APPIC Newsletter, Vol. XXV, pp. 6, 26-27.
Stedman J. M., Hatch, J. P., & Schoenfeld, L. S. (2000b). Pre-internship preparation in psychological testing and psychotherapy. What Internship Directors say they expect. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 31, 321-326.
Tables currently unavailable.