Voices of the five doctoral training councils in psychology: seeking common ground on Combined-Integrated doctoral training in psychology

Abstract

Doctoral training programs in psychology are accredited by the American Psychological Association in four areas: Clinical, Counseling, School, and Combined-Integrated (C-I) psychology. Each area of doctoral preparation in psychology has its own council, which represents its interests within the field and to external constituents. Despite the fact that Combined-Integrated training programs have existed since the mid-1970s, the Consortium representing this area's interests only formed in the past two years. The purpose of this article was to obtain input from representatives of all five training councils regarding the role of the newly formed council in relation to the other councils and the role of Combined-Integrated training. We begin with a brief description of each of the five councils. We then summarize the representatives' responses to narrative questions regarding advantages and disadvantages associated with meeting to discuss the combined model. Finally, common and divergent themes across the councils in training psychologists are presented, and the future role for Combined-Integrated programs is discussed.