Report from CCOPP

September 18, 1999

Brief History of CCOPP

Following many decades of de facto or consensus identification of specialty areas of practice in psychology, a more formal de jure process was adopted, first by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) and most recently in 1995 by the American Psychological Association (APA) by establishing the Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology (CRSPPP) and a formal set of criteria and procedures by which that body would carry out the recognition process.

At the time CRSPPP was established, the APA also recognized the need and authorized support for an inter-organizational forum for periodic review of the impact of specialty and proficiency recognition in professional education and training, licensure and other credentialing for practice in psychology. That forum is now known as the Council of Credentialing Organizations in Professional Psychology (CCOPP), a forum on which participating organizations from both the U.S. and Canada represent the discipline's self-regulation and quality assurance of professional education, training, licensing and other practice credentials in psychology.

In addressing how best to assess the impact of specialty and proficiency recognition on the profession and the publics it serves, including students, CCOPP has recognized the lack of a conceptual framework or model, and more specifically, a set of criteria from which to carry out this task. At its September 18, 1999 meeting, therefore, CCOPP developed the following proposal and rationale for the priority of its work in the immediate future.

Proposal

Given the pressing need to establish a cohesive system for the orderly evolution of specializations for health service providers in psychology, CCOPP will develop a comprehensive, conceptual model for health service providers in psychology which would give coherence to psychology's system of specialization and:

• Communicate clearly the meaning of specialization to consumers of health care services;
• Inform students concerning the landscape of practice for health service providers;
• Promote coherence in the identification of education and training programs for generalist and specialist health service providers in professional psychology; and
• Guide the regulatory and credentialing systems for health service providers in professional psychology.
• Accomplished by the members of CCOPP through an iterative process, the outcome will be a model that is adopted by the participating organizations and serve as a framework for the profession.
  

Why limit the conceptual model to Health Service Providers?

The foundation for any profession is a defined domain of practice or services. Psychology has developed into a profession that has multiple domains of practice, the largest and broadest being that of health services. It is also the domain within which most presently recognized specialties are found. Thus, rather than developing a conceptual model of relevance to all domains of applied practice in psychology at this point, CCOPP elected to focus on a model for the health service provider domain.

Historically, psychology's role in that domain has been focused principally, though certainly not exclusively, on mental health services. This is no longer the case, however, as the body of scientific and practice knowledge makes clear the inextricable relationship between physical and mental health. This body of knowledge and the public need for integrated health services serve as the grounds for psychology's recognition as a health profession. This broader role or domain for psychological services has been recognized for at least 30 years (Schofield, 1969; APA, 1979; APA, 1998) and by adoption of the definition of health service provider and implementation of Certified Health Service Provider in Psychology in 1974.

A "Health Service Provider in Psychology" is defined as a psychologist currently and actively licensed/certified/registered at the independent practice level in a jurisdiction, who is trained and experienced in the delivery of direct, preventative, assessment and therapeutic intervention services to individuals whose growth, adjustment or functioning is impaired or to individuals who otherwise seek services. (National Register, 1999)

More recently, in August 1998, the APA C/R also approved as policy guidance the following recommendation: "That the term health service psychologist or health service provider in psychology be the preferred term in language used to describe practicing psychologists or professional psychology students in relation to statutes, rules or regulations, and commercial policies that pertain to eligibility for health services reimbursement and health professions education and training."

The generic nature of preparation for professional psychologists as health service providers is also recognized by the fact that (most) provincial and state licensing jurisdictions in psychology license psychologists generically and not by specialty. However, eight states have also specifically adopted health service provider legislation for identification of psychologists.

 

What functions should a conceptual model serve?

• It should capture the inter-specialty relationships and dynamics, the inter-proficiency relationships and dynamics, and the inter-subspecialty relationships and dynamics.
• It should build upon the extant commitment to broad training in substantive areas such as clinical, counseling, and school, that are currently known as field specialties for general practice as a health service provider.
• It should be dynamic and not constrain the evolution of practice in the provision of health care services.
• It should accurately distinguish specialties from subspecialties and proficiencies, and from each other, with respect to the scope of practice, the specialty specific knowledge base, and the level of competence.
• It should be attentive to the interface of professional psychology with other health service disciplines or professions.
• It should inform the consumer about level and scope of competence of the health service provider.
  

 

Why should CCOPP undertake this initiative to develop this conceptual model?

CCOPP is the only forum in which all organizations designated to be part of psychology's system of self-regulation are present and with a mission to promote coherence to the system of professional education and training, licensing, and other credentialing for the practice of psychology. In carrying out this task, CCOPP assumes that its member organizations:

• Recognize the importance of this task in relation to their respective missions;
• Recognize the importance of their participation for an effective outcome to be achieved;
• Will share in the meeting expenses needed to complete the task.
  

What is the proposed plan?

Because of the importance of resolving this issue in a timely manner, the member oganizations propose that CCOPP focus much of its energies toward the completion of this project. Because issues related to the recognition of specialties and proficiencies and the credentialing of practitioners in these areas are increasingly surfacing, it is incumbent upon CCOPP to act as expeditiously as possible without sacrificing the integrity of the product. To accomplish this in a timely fashion, it may be necessary to have two day meetings, instead of the current one day meetings, twice a year. This extended time period will allow involvement of and dissemination to broad constituencies with feedback to CCOPP. Also, CCOPP will form a subgroup to work intensively between meetings in order to facilitate development of a conceptual model for specialization that can be promulgated to the extant array of interested users.