Psychologists in rehabilitation: Preparation and experience.

Abstract

This study examined the preparation and experience of the Directors of Psychology Services in the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) of accredited hospitals and specialized settings. These organizations (N=316) offer services in comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation, spinal cord injury.chronic pain management and brain injury. A 12-item survey was mailed to the Directors of Psychology Services with a 69% return rate. Some findings were: doctoral specialties were in clinical (60%), counseling (21%), and rehabilitation on psychology (4%); post-doctoral training for 48% was primarily in neuropsychology; 5% had a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling; the work day included psychotherapy, administration, and neuropsychological assessment for the majority; 52% declared that they were not "rehabilitation psychologists"; and 50% had less than five years experience in rehabilitation. Consideration of specialty credentialing and development of doctoral programs in rehabilitation psychology is discussed. PREPARATION AND EXPERIENCERehabilitation psychologists, members of an emerging specialty in professional psychology (Morris, 1987a(Morris, , 1987b Brucker, 1989), are being sought for positions in a number of settings including hospitals, head injury programs and pain clinics. A review of position announcements in the APA Monitor indicated an average of four openings for rehabilitation psychologists monthly during the 12-month period from February 1988 to February 1989. The demand for rehabilitation psychologists can partially be attributed to health-care technologies that

Specialty practice in rehabilitation psychology.

“…Predoctoral training of rehabilitation psychologists is typically generic, drawing heavily from practicum experiences involving supervised experiences in traditional clinical or counseling psychology assessments and interventions (Parker & Chan, 1990). A significant percentage of practicum sites (35%) are located in hospital settings and medical centers in military hospitals, Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and private and state psychiatric settings; however, it remains uncertain what proportion of these practicum sites provide relevant clinical experiences in rehabilitation settings (Lewis, Hatcher, & Pate, 2005).…”

On becoming a rehabilitation psychologist: Many roads lead to Rome.

“…Roldan (1992), in her survey of Division 22 members, found that 41% of the rehabilitation psychologists had a doctoral specialty in clinical psychology versus only 21% in counseling psychology. Parker and Chan (1990) Although Kenneth R. Thomas has been critical of studies designed to demonstrate the superiority of master's-level rehabilitation counselors over counselors with other types of academic backgrounds in rehabilitation settings (Thomas, 1990), a number of excellent studies and positive findings exist (Szymanski, 1991;Szymanski & Danek, 1992;Szymanski & Parker, 1989). Moreover, a study by Garske and Thomas (1990) of rehabilitation counseling students from 10 graduate programs suggested that these students had positive attitudes toward persons with disabilities as measured by the Issues in Disabilities Scale (Makas, Finnerty-Fried, Sigafoos, & Reiss, 1988).…”

“…Roldan (1992), in her survey of Division 22 members, found that 41% of the rehabilitation psychologists had a doctoral specialty in clinical psychology versus only 21% in counseling psychology. Parker and Chan (1990), in their survey of directors of psychological services in Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities accredited hospitals and specialized settings, also reported that 60% of the respondents had doctoral training in clinical psychology. Therefore, it would appear that the majority of the rehabilitation psychologists are originally trained as clinical psychologists not in school of education settings.…”

Doctoral education in rehabilitation and health care psychology: Principles and strategies for unifying subspecialty training.

“…Current course offerings in clinical and counseling graduate programs may include one or two specialty courses in geropsychology, health psychology, neuropsychology, or rehabilitation psychology. Parker and Chan's (1990) survey of psychology service directors in accredited rehabilitation hospitals and specialized settings highlights the dominance of broad-based predoctoral preparation in clinical and counseling psychology. They found that 62% of respondents identified clinical psychology as their degree specialty area; an additional 20% identified counseling psychology as their degree specialty.…”