The scientifically‐minded psychologist: Science as a core competency

Abstract

At the Competencies Conference: Future Directions in Education and Credentialing in Professional Psychology, the Scientific Foundations and Research Competencies Work Group focused on identifying how psychologists practice scientifically. This article presents the subcomponents associated with the core competency of scientific practice. The subcomponents include: 1). access and apply current scientific knowledge habitually and appropriately; 2). contribute to knowledge; 3). critically evaluate interventions and their outcomes; 4). practice vigilance about how sociocultural variables influence scientific practice; and 5). routinely subject work to the scrutiny of colleagues, stakeholders, and the public. In addition, the article briefly discusses how the depth of training for and assessment of each subcomponent will vary by training model. Implications and future directions for individual psychologists, training programs, and the profession are discussed. This is one of a series of articles published 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.

Training in Family Psychology: A Competencies‐Based Approach

“…Consistent with the focus in professional psychology to prepare students to be scientifically minded psychologists (Bieschke, Fouad, Collins, & Halonen, 2004), training within family psychology requires a familiarity with systemic epistemology. This epistemology, which is not a core component of most psychology curricula, often entails a paradigm shift toward conceptualizing human behavior in a fashion that integrates intra-individual, interpersonal, environmental, and macrosystemic elements (Liddle, Santisteban, Levant, & Bray, 2002;Stanton, 1999).…”

Becoming a competent clinician: Basic competencies in intervention

“…While it is expected that the researcher will subject his/her work to scientific scrutiny of their colleagues, the idea of subjecting clinical practice to the scrutiny of others is not well established. The Scientific Foundations and Research Competences Work Group of the Competencies Conference identified the competencies necessary for professional psychologists to practice scientifically; one such competency was the importance of professional psychologist to subject their work to the "scientific scrutiny of colleagues, stakeholders, and the public" (Bieschke, Fouad, Collins, & Halonen, 2004). For further discussion of this topic, the reader is referred to the article from this Work Group.…”

Handbook of Evidence-Based Therapies for Children and Adolescents

“…Competencies have been conceptualized in a developmental framework that mirrors phases of training, including preparation for graduate education, predoctoral competencies, and postdoctoral competencies. For example, core competencies for practice have been identified Kaslow et al, 2004) that include training in the scientific foundations of psychology (Bieschke et al, 2004), psychological interventions (Spruill et al, 2004), supervision (Falender et al, 2004), psychological assessment (Krishnamurthy et al, 2004), cultural and individual diversity (Daniel et al, 2004), consultation and interdisciplinary relationships (Arredondo et al, 2004), ethical, legal, and professional issues (de las Fuentes et al, 2005), and professional development (Elman et al, 2005).…”