Hi all,
I would like others to weigh in on AAPI reporting of practicum hours and integrated reports that I consider to be at best, disingenuous, and at worst, unethical. There are two issues:
1. I have a colleague who earned a terminal Master's prior to entering our doctoral program; he was licenced and worked in private practice for a bit after earning his degree. He said that he was told by the APA (whatever that means) that he could count the hours that he accrued prior to licensure, when he was supervised by a psychologist, as practicum hours on the AAPI as long as our program approved this. I don't think that our program will ultimately approve this, but it concerns me that this would even be considered. It seems like a clear contradiction of the definition of practicum hours, per AAPI instructions:
"When counting practicum hours, you should consider the following important information and definitions:
1. You should only record hours for which you received formal academic training and credit or which were sanctioned by your graduate program as relevant training or work experiences (e.g., VA summer traineeship, clinical research positions, time spent in the same practicum setting after the official practicum has ended). Practicum hours must be supervised."
My takeaway from the above description is that ONLY practicum hours obtained included DURING your terminal Master's or Doctoral program should be counted. In my colleague's case, his hours were obtained outside of these parameters.
2. This individual also does testing of college athletes, and plans to try to use reports written using ImPACT testing (and no other psychological testing; the only other testing given is vestibular/balance testing) as integrated reports. His argument for considering it an integrated report is that the ImPACT test was originally two separate tests. I think that's a clear stretch. In addition, this testing does not actually involve a clinical interview, and instead history is summarized from info self-reported on the ImPACT (e.g., prior TBI's, current symptoms, education, etc.). Altogether, this seems like a clear violation of the AAPI instructions:
"Integrated Reports. In this section, provide the number of integrated assessment reports you have written for adults and the number written for children and adolescents. The definition of an integrated report is a report that includes a history, an interview and at least two tests from one or more of the
following categories: personality assessment (objective, self-report, and/or projective), intellectual assessment, cognitive assessment, and neuropsychological assessment. Please carefully review this definition as it answers the question of what should be included in a report to have it satisfy the requirement of an integrated report."
Ultimately, I believe internship sites will see through his reporting if they look closely (i.e., compare his actual practicum placements to the hours he reports; examine tests included in integrated reports). However, I wonder if others see colleagues doing the same sort of things and what they make of it? For example, I suppose that one could argue that, per APPIC's instructions, as long as your practicum hours were sanctioned by your program, they could be counted. The whole thing just makes me uneasy. I have provided him the AAPI instructions, and have shared my concerns with him. However, I don't feel that I have any authority to do anything further about it.
Thanks, everyone. Looking forward to your thoughts.
I would like others to weigh in on AAPI reporting of practicum hours and integrated reports that I consider to be at best, disingenuous, and at worst, unethical. There are two issues:
1. I have a colleague who earned a terminal Master's prior to entering our doctoral program; he was licenced and worked in private practice for a bit after earning his degree. He said that he was told by the APA (whatever that means) that he could count the hours that he accrued prior to licensure, when he was supervised by a psychologist, as practicum hours on the AAPI as long as our program approved this. I don't think that our program will ultimately approve this, but it concerns me that this would even be considered. It seems like a clear contradiction of the definition of practicum hours, per AAPI instructions:
"When counting practicum hours, you should consider the following important information and definitions:
1. You should only record hours for which you received formal academic training and credit or which were sanctioned by your graduate program as relevant training or work experiences (e.g., VA summer traineeship, clinical research positions, time spent in the same practicum setting after the official practicum has ended). Practicum hours must be supervised."
My takeaway from the above description is that ONLY practicum hours obtained included DURING your terminal Master's or Doctoral program should be counted. In my colleague's case, his hours were obtained outside of these parameters.
2. This individual also does testing of college athletes, and plans to try to use reports written using ImPACT testing (and no other psychological testing; the only other testing given is vestibular/balance testing) as integrated reports. His argument for considering it an integrated report is that the ImPACT test was originally two separate tests. I think that's a clear stretch. In addition, this testing does not actually involve a clinical interview, and instead history is summarized from info self-reported on the ImPACT (e.g., prior TBI's, current symptoms, education, etc.). Altogether, this seems like a clear violation of the AAPI instructions:
"Integrated Reports. In this section, provide the number of integrated assessment reports you have written for adults and the number written for children and adolescents. The definition of an integrated report is a report that includes a history, an interview and at least two tests from one or more of the
following categories: personality assessment (objective, self-report, and/or projective), intellectual assessment, cognitive assessment, and neuropsychological assessment. Please carefully review this definition as it answers the question of what should be included in a report to have it satisfy the requirement of an integrated report."
Ultimately, I believe internship sites will see through his reporting if they look closely (i.e., compare his actual practicum placements to the hours he reports; examine tests included in integrated reports). However, I wonder if others see colleagues doing the same sort of things and what they make of it? For example, I suppose that one could argue that, per APPIC's instructions, as long as your practicum hours were sanctioned by your program, they could be counted. The whole thing just makes me uneasy. I have provided him the AAPI instructions, and have shared my concerns with him. However, I don't feel that I have any authority to do anything further about it.
Thanks, everyone. Looking forward to your thoughts.
