Responses to CRAC Questions
For October 25,2011 CRAC Meeting
1. How are students currently completing six units of work for three
units of credit? (lines 132-135) The course in question, 729, has
undergone two significant changes in the last two years that have led the
Clinical Psychology faculty to propose the change in the number of units
of the course from three to six units. During the 2010-2011 academic
year, we piloted changes to the training component associated with the
off-site placement which have greatly improved the experience for the
students and the site; these changes are fully implemented this year. At
the same time, we are in the second year of piloting an expanded
experiential component for the on-site placement portion of the practicum.
With both changes, the first year practicum course is now a richer and
better training experience, and comparable to the second year practicum.
Students spend the same amount of time in the field in both years, though
there are more training and supervision hours associated with the first
year practicum. Please note that while we are putting this course change
through at the same time as the curriculum revision, it is a move that we
planned to make independent of needing to do a revision. Waiting to go
forward with the full curriculum revision allowed us a second year to pilot
the experiential component.
2. How are external resources guaranteed? (lines 280-287) Both sources
of external funds to the program reflect long-time, stable arrangements.
Two courses (753, 754) are covered through College of Extended
Learning funds generated by a credential program offered through the
Psychology Department. Should these funds no longer be available, it is
expected that the School and Clinical concentrations would be able to
rotate coverage for the courses with existing faculty resources. The
supervision for a third course (729) is paid for through a partnership with
the Headstart program at SFSU. At the time the partnership was forged,
then Provost Gemello noted that it represented a unique opportunity for
two units at the university to combine in a way that reflects the university’s
mission. Prior to this arrangement, the Clinical concentration had a similar
partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District. Should the
Headstart partnership end, we expect that we would be able to identify
another suitable partner as the services the trainees provide is very
valuable to potential partners, especially in this time of limited mental
health resources.
3. Will the department have resources to staff the new required PSY
891 without depending on a volunteer faculty overload? (lines 287289) It was actually a misnomer to call it a faculty overload as in the
College of Science and Engineering it is common that faculty not actively
involved in a program of research will take on a fourth course. It is also
important to note that 891 is a seminar in professional issues, and the
instructor primarily serves as a facilitator/coordinator, bringing together
professional speakers and facilitating student discussion.
4. Does adding new content to 753 and 754 necessitate removing
existing content? (lines 104-108) No, not really. Much of the new
content in 753 and 754 is closely linked to content already in the course,
and not having to cover as much content concerning substance abuse
(covered in the new course, 724) will make it relatively easy to
accommodate the new content.
5. What might the impact be to the enrollment with no clinical students
enrolled in PSY 722? For the last many years, there have been two
sections each of 721 and 722, one for the Clinical concentration and one
for the School concentration, with appropriate enrollments for each. As a
one time exception to this pattern, this year there is a combined
Clinical/School 721 and 722. The enrollment is actually high for the nature
of the course, and the School concentration will benefit from having
dedicated sections of 721 and 722 in the future.
6. Why is it necessary to remove 721 and 722? How was the content
from the two courses consolidated into one course (723)? (lines 8488). The 721/722 sequence dates back more than 20 years, when the
Clinical and School concentrations operated jointly and about 50% of the
students in the Clinical concentration went on to doctoral programs in
Clinical Psychology. At that time, a full year’s training in traditional
psychological testing methods (including projective testing along with
intelligence and other cognitive tests) made sense for both concentrations.
It continues to make sense for the School Psychology concentration, and
so the 721/722 sequence will continue for the School concentration.
However, since the vast majority of students in the Clinical Psychology
concentration now become masters’ level Marriage and Family Therapists
(MFTs), it does not make sense for them to have a year’s training in
traditional psychological testing. MFT’s cannot administer, score or
interpret psychological tests in their scope of practice; instead, they are
expected to know the major tests for consultation purposes, and to be
especially conversant with the use of clinical interviewing and diagnostic
methods. These areas will be the focus of 723. Many of the projective
and ancillary tests covered in the 721/722 sequence (still vital for School
Psychologists, who do administer, score, and interpret tests as a major
part of their professional role) will not be covered in 723, so in fact we are
not covering all of the material in the consolidation of testing into one
course. As noted in the proposal, the new course on Drugs, Brain, and
Behavior covers vitally important material on substance abuse and
psychopharmacology, required training for MFTs.