The doctor of psychology (Psy.D.) degree is awarded to psychologists whose education is designed to prepare them for careers of professional practice. With considerable variation in content and emphasis, the programs that lead to the degree include the basic scientific knowledge relevant to professional psychology, training in the six professional competency areas (relationship. assessment. intervention, research and evaluation. consultation and education. and management and supervision) identified by the National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (NCSPP), supervised practicum experiences, and an internship. Dissertation requirements usually have an applied focus and range from relatively small, clinically oriented doctoral projects to products of the level and scope that might be found in Ph.D. programs. A typical program requires five years of graduate study beyond the baccalaureate degree.
The first formal proposal for a professional degree in psychology was advanced by Loyal Crane in 1925. The proposal was not cordially received in the academic community. Only two “Ps.D.” programs, both in Canada and both short lived, were attempted. The scientist-practitioner model leading to the Ph.D. degree, established at the Boulder, Colorado, conference on clinical training in 1949, remains the most common design for the education of professional psychologists. The “Boulder model,” as it came to be called, prepares graduates as researchers as well as clinicians, in the belief that each form of activity enhances the other.
By the middle of the 1960s, however, critics expressed discontent with some clinical programs in academic departments, which were seen as overemphasizing research at the expense of education for practice, the career the majority of graduates entered even at that time. After deliberation, an American Psychological Association (APA) committee recommended establishment of practitioner programs leading to the Psy.D. degree. In 1968, the Department of Psychology at the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois inaugurated the first Psy.D. program in the United States.
Five years later, the concept of explicit education for the practice of psychology and the use of the Psy.D. degree were endorsed at the conference in Vail, Colorado. In the years that followed, additional Psy.D. programs were developed in universities and professional schools throughout the United States, although the initial program at the University of Illinois was discontinued in 1980. Throughout the 1980s there was still debate as to whether the Ph.D. or Psy.D. was the preferred degree for professional programs, but by the mid-i 990s the consensus designation was the Psy.D. Also, some regional accrediting bodies asked professional programs to move to the Psy.D. from the Ph.D. By early 1997. at least 45 professional education programs were in operation, the great majority awarding the Psy.D. Approximately half of these were in universities, half were in free-standing professional schools, and 33 had been approved by the APA Committee on Accreditation. Almost all of these programs belong to the NCSPP, which, over a period of 20 years, has developed an explicit model for professional psychology education.
Bibliography:
- Peterson. D. R. (1997). Educating professional psychologists: History and guiding conception. Washington. DC: American Psychological Association.
- Peterson, R, L., Peterson, D.R., & Abrams, J. (Eds.). (in press). Standards for education in professional psychology: Reflection and integration. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association & National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology.
- Peterson, R. L., Peterson, D. R., Abrams, J. C., & Stricker, G. (1997). The National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology educational model. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28, 373-386.