This article provides a conceptual framework for training in professional psychology focused on the construct of competency. The authors present a 3-dimensional competency model delineating the domains of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that serve as the foundation required of all psychologists, the domains of functional competencies that broadly define what psychologists do, and the stages of professional development from doctoral education to lifelong learning through continuing education. The goal in presenting this model is to provide a conceptual frame of reference for those responsible for psychology education, credentialing, and regulation.

The Competencies Conference: Future Directions in Education and Credentialing in Professional Psychology was organized around eight competency-focused work groups, as well as work groups on specialties and the assessment of competence. A diverse group of psychologists participated in this multisponsored conference. After describing the background and structure of the conference, this article reviews the common themes that surfaced across work groups, with attention paid to the identification, training, and assessment of competencies and competence. Recommendations to advance competency-based education, training, and credentialing in professional psychology are discussed. This is one of a series of articles published together in this issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Several other articles that resulted from the Competencies Conference will appear in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice and The Counseling Psychologist.

This article presents guiding principles for the assessment of competence developed by the members of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on Assessment of Competence in Professional Psychology. These principles are applicable to the education, training, and credentialing of professional psychologists, and to practicing psychologists across the professional life span. The principles are built upon a review of competency assessment models, including practices in both psychology and other professions. These principles will help to ensure that psychologists reinforce the importance of a culture of competence. The implications of the principles for professional psychology also are highlighted. research and clinical practice focus on competency-based education, training, and supervision of interns and postdoctoral fellows; family violence; suicidal behavior across the life span; and family systems medicine. NANCY J. RUBIN received her PsyD from the University of Denver in clinical psychology. She is an associate professor and the Director of Psychology

The authors provide a recitation of events in recent years that document an increased focus on competency-based models of education, training, and assessment in professional psychology, particularly clinical, counseling, and school psychology, based on the work of the American Psychological Association's (APA's) Task Force on Assessment of Competence in Professional Psychology. The article begins with the inclusion of competencies as part of the "Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct" (APA, 2002). Next, accreditation practices in the United States and Canada are summarized. Competency-based education, training, and credentialing efforts in professional psychology are reviewed, including graduate, practicum, internship, and postdoctoral levels; licensure; postlicensure NANCY J. RUBIN received her PsyD in clinical psychology from the University of Denver. She is an associate professor and the director of psychology clinical services, teaching, and research in the

BackgroundHypospadias is one of the most common urogenital congenital anomalies affecting baby boys. Prevalence estimates in Europe range from 4 to 24 per 10,000 births, depending on definition, with higher rates reported from the United States. Relatively little is known about potential risk factors, but a role for endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has been proposed.ObjectiveOur goal was to elucidate the risk of hypospadias associated with occupational exposure of the mother to endocrine-disruptor chemicals, use of folate supplementation during pregnancy, and vegetarianism.DesignWe designed a case–control study of 471 hypospadias cases referred to surgeons and 490 randomly selected birth controls, born 1 January 1997–30 September 1998 in southeast England. Telephone interviews of mothers elicited information on folate supplementation during pregnancy and vegetarianism. We used a job exposure matrix to classify occupational exposure.ResultsIn multiple logistic regression analysis, there were increased risks for self-reported occupational exposure to hair spray [exposed vs. nonexposed, odds ratio (OR) = 2.39; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.40–4.17] and phthalate exposure obtained by a job exposure matrix (OR = 3.12; 95% CI, 1.04–11.46). There was a significantly reduced risk of hypospadias associated with of folate use during the first 3 months of pregnancy (OR = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.44–0.93). Vegetarianism was not associated with hypospadias risk.ConclusionsExcess risks of hypospadias associated with occupational exposures to phthalates and hair spray suggest that antiandrogenic EDCs may play a role in hypospadias. Folate supplementation in early pregnancy may be protective.

Abstract. Let f be a classical holomorphic newform of level q and even weight k. We show that the pushforward to the full level modular curve of the mass of f equidistributes as qk → ∞. This generalizes known results in the case that q is squarefree. We obtain a power savings in the rate of equidistribution as q becomes sufficiently "powerful" (far away from being squarefree), and in particular in the "depth aspect" as q traverses the powers of a fixed prime.We compare the difficulty of such equidistribution problems to that of corresponding subconvexity problems by deriving explicit extensions of Watson's formula to certain triple product integrals involving forms of non-squarefree level. By a theorem of Ichino and a lemma of Michel-Venkatesh, this amounts to a detailed study of Rankin-Selberg integrals |f | 2 E attached to newforms f of arbitrary level and Eisenstein series E of full level.We find that the local factors of such integrals participate in many amusing analogies with global L-functions. For instance, we observe that the mass equidistribution conjecture with a power savings in the depth aspect is equivalent to knowing either a global subconvexity bound or what we call a "local subconvexity bound"; a consequence of our local calculations is what we call a "local Lindelöf hypothesis".

Challenges to the assessment of competence and competencies in professional psychology are discussed in this article. These include difficulties in defining competencies in precise and measurable terms; reaching agreement within the profession about the key elements of each competence domain; establishing an armamentarium of tools for assessing all components of competence, including the knowledge base, skills, and attitudes (and their integration); determining appropriate agreed-upon minimal levels of competence for individuals at different levels of professional development and when "competence problems" exist for individuals; assuring the fidelity of competency assessments; and establishing mechanisms for providing effective evaluative feedback and remediation. But even if these challenges JAMES W. LICHTENBERG received his PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Minnesota. He is a professor of counseling psychology and the associate dean for graduate programs and research at the University of Kansas. His areas of professional interest and research include social interaction processes and dynamics, legal and ethical issues in counseling and psychotherapy, and clinical training. SANFORD M. PORTNOY received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts. He is on the faculty of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, where he serves as director of the Center for the Study of Psychology and Divorce, and is a member of Needham Psychotherapy Associates in Needham, Massachusetts, and of Portnoy Associates in Newton, Massachusetts. His professional and research interests include the psychology of divorce and the effects of the legal divorce process on families, couples therapy, and teaching legal professionals the skills to relate more effectively to their clients. MURIEL J. BEBEAU received her PhD in educational psychology from Arizona State University. She is a professor in the School of Dentistry at the University of Minnesota, faculty associate in the university's Center for Bioethics, and director of the Center for the Study of Ethical Development. Her scholarly work integrates the psychology of morality with ethics and dentistry to design and validate assessment strategies and teaching methods to promote professional ethical development. IRENE W. LEIGH received her PhD in clinical psychology from New York University. She is a professor in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Her presentations, research, and publications have focused on deaf people and issues related to identity, multiculturalism, parenting, attachment, depression, and cochlear implants. PAUL D. NELSON received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He recently retired as the deputy director of education and director of graduate and postdoctoral education and training for the Education Directorate of the American Psychological Association. His focus has been on graduate and postgraduate education and training. NANCY J. RUBIN received her PsyD in clinical...

This article describes characteristics of alternative assessment models deployed in the measurement of professional competencies across the professional life span based on the work of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Assessment of Competence in Professional Psychology. Assessments of knowledge, decision making, performance and personal attributes, as well as integrated practice-based skills and tasks are described and compared on the basis of their validity, feasibility and practicality, fidelity, and relevance at difference stages of professional development. It is acknowledged that no single assessment can evaluate all competencies and that assessments can be combined in complementary ways. Assessments deployed in the nursing, dental, and medical professions are reviewed and contrasted with current practices in psychology. At the licensure level, differences in the assessments deployed among the 4 healthcare professions are described, and their candidate fees and number of candidates assessed annually are documented. Ideas for developing new assessments in psychology are discussed on the basis of the needs and financial resources available to psychology and the experiences of other healthcare professions.