The Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology (SoA) outline training requirements for programs at the doctoral, doctoral internship, and postdoctoral levels. Correspondent to the SoA are the Implementing Regulations (IRs), which are official policy documents that “elucidate, interpret and operationally define” the Commission on Accreditation’s (CoA) policies and procedures. IRs are divided into several different sections (A through E), which are subject to regular review and revision by the CoA. Through this iterative process, opportunities for clarification have arisen regarding IRs in Section C, which relate specifically to the SoA.
Per the SoA, the CoA requires that all trainees who complete accredited training programs, regardless of substantive practice area, degree type, or level of training, develop certain competencies as part of their preparation for practice in health service psychology (HSP). The CoA evaluates a program’s adherence to this standard in the context of the SoA sections that articulate competencies at each training level. IR C-8 D and subsections of IR C-9 P refer specifically to aspects of a program’s curriculum or training relevant to acquisition and demonstration of specialty competencies at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels, respectively.
As a reminder, in accordance with the APA “Policies for Accreditation Governance” and US Department of Education regulations for notice and comment, the CoA has made the proposed revisions available for a seventy-five (75) day period of public review and comment through 5:00pm Eastern Daylight Time on December 11, 2021. Information about the proposed standards and public comment is available at http://apps.apa.org/
Please contact the office with questions at APAaccred@apa.org or by calling (202) 336-5979.