Clinical competence for practicing psychologists: Clearly a work in progress.

Abstract

Competence is an issue of vital importance for all practicing psychologists, and each spends his or her career seeking to develop it, achieve it, maintain it, and enhance it. But just what is competence, how is it best achieved, what are the factors that may adversely impact it, and what are each psychologist's ethical obligations with regard to clinical competence? These and other relevant questions are addressed for psychologists individually, for those who train them, and for those in the profession who establish professional standards. The article and 3 invited expert commentaries address these issues and make practical recommendations for action that will assist psychologists, trainers, and the profession to better achieve the ideal of competence so that they may best be able to meet the needs of those they serve.

Sport Psychologists’ Experiences of Organizational Stressors

“…Despite these observations, the applied sport psychology literature provides limited speciic recommendations for managing stress in consultants' lives. Therefore, it seems judicious to learn lessons from mainstream psychology which advises practitioners to practice self-care, be alert to the signs of distress, and strike a balance between activities in life (Barnett et al, 2007). This is perhaps particularly pertinent in the sport performance environment since, in line with the fundamental tenets of emotional labor theory (cf.…”

“…Sport psychology organizations should emphasize this in their training of consultants and provide ongoing support to facilitate service delivery. This is important to highlight since stress has the potential to compromise psychologists' professional competency (Barnett, Doll, Younggren, & Rubin, 2007;Orr, 1997). On this point, the British Psychological Society (2006) Code of Ethics and Conduct states that "psychologists should monitor their own personal and professional lifestyle in order to remain alert to signs of impairment" (p. 15).…”

Where has all the psychology gone?

“…We believe that the widespread training of paraprofessionals undertaking treatment, without co-facilitation by registered psychologists will lead to facilitators who (1) are not fully aware that the concept of EBP is much broader than RNR and should be their guiding model of practice, (2) do not detect valuable opportunities that they could use in order to bring about change in their clients, (3) remain unaware of or do not sophisticatedly reflect upon issues of clinical complexity, and (4) are at heightened risk of prioritizing relatively minor risk issues at the expense of the fundamental principles of behavior change (i.e., the dual relationship problem). Clinical competence requires maintenance and development of dynamic coal face clinical skills (Barnett, Doll, Younggren, & Rubin, 2007). Thus, corrections must employ qualified psychologists to engage in the complex task of translating and implementing EBP.…”

Identifying Critical Competencies for Psychotherapeutic Practice With Eating Disordered Clients: A Delphi Study

“…The ethics codes of the mental health professions are clear that the burden of assessing competence to work in any practice area, including eating disorders, lies with the individual practitioner (e.g., CPA, 2000). However, the depth and breadth of knowledge and skills required to claim competence remain unclear and a definitive method for determining competence to work in particular practice domains has yet to be identified (Barnett et al, 2007;Rubin, 2007). Furthermore, the obligation to develop and maintain professional competence requires that mental health professionals recognize their own education and training needs (Rubin, 2007).…”