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Supervised Experience, Practicum PSI 997

Types of Sites

Training in the Place of Employment
Hour Requirements

Leave During Practicum

Supervision

Prerequisites for First Practicum
Compensation

Registration with State Board
Student Liability Insurance
Practicum Monitoring
Pacticum Forms
Practicum Grading
Practicum Site Matching Decision Rules

A practicum is supervised, field based training. During practicum students develop their competencies through direct client contact, supervision by experienced psychologists and other clinicians, and consultation with an array of health service providers and client collaterals. Students are exposed to the management and administration of mental health delivery systems. Additionally, practicum provides the opportunity for students to develop the professional and personal attitudes important to the identity of a professional psychologist.

Types of Sites

To ensure broad exposure to theoretical models, clinical skills, and professional roles, SOPP has established training relationship with sites throughout the southwestern and central Ohio region. These include a range of public and private community agencies that provide mental health services. The School also has on campus training sites and administers two general training/service centers: the Ellis Institute for Human Development, located just west of downtown Dayton, in the Wright-Dunbar neighborhood, and the Counseling and Wellness Services, the WSU counseling center. The Ellis Institute houses the General Practice Clinic, the Male Responsibility Program , the Preventing Abuse in the Home Program, the Assessment Clinic, the Memory Clinic, and several grant and contract funded training/service projects. Practicum supervisors include SOPP faculty and community psychologists. All training sites sign a three year training agreement with SOPP. All students are required to serve one of their three practicum years either at one of the Ellis Institute Programs or at Counseling and Wellness Services.

Training in the Place of Employment

Clinical training may not be done in the student's place of employement. This restriction recognizes that training most optimally occurs in settings uncomplicated by dual relationships, employment pressures, and financial demands. Students also profit from trainig in diverse organizational "cultures" or structures.

Occasionally, the interpretation of what constitutes "place of employement is unclear. For example, a large corporation may own several smaller corporations which operate at different sites, managed by different supervisors, serving different populations. A students may request the opportunity to train at a subsidiary of the parent organization in which the student works. Students are required to consult with the Associate Dean for Clinical Training and Psychological Services, any may be required to submit a formal proposal for review. In order to identify what constitutes a student's "place of employement", the Office of Clinical Training has developed the following guidelines.

1. Dual Relationships: The field training supervisor periodically evaulates the student's progress in training and submits reports to the Associate Dean of Clinical Training and Psychological Services. These reports must be objective, fair, and candid. Therefore, someone who is a co-worker, work supervisor, or employer should not evaluate the student. The Clinical Training Committee will evaluate the student's training request to ensure that no dual relationship exists.Multiple Identities: A student should enter a training site with a single identity: a professional-in-training. Students attempting to train in their place of employment continue to be identified as an employee. This identity can place competing demands on a student and thus compromise the training that a student receives.

2. Financial Relationships: Students enter a clinical field placement as a student, not as an employee, private practitioner, or independent contractor. Ideally, financial matters do not impinge upon clinical training/education. All students receive a modest stipend to support involvement in clinical field training. A student may not receive a "salary" as this identifies the student as an emploee, rather than a professional-in-training. The educative and training mission of the clinicall practiucm shoudl not be compromised by financial considerations, such as compensation based on "productivitity" or "collections".

3. Geographical Relationships: Occasionally, health organizations, like other corporations, merge with or acquire other companies tha tare at some geographical distance from one another. In these circumstances, the corporations continue to operate independently of one another and are united "in name only". Under these circumstances, a student may train at the separate corporation, so long as the other criteria are met.

4. Power in Relationships: Students enter training programs to be the recipients of educative, professional training experiences. This arrangement place the student in a role in which the student depends upon the supervisor and the agency for a successful training experience. Students may not hire their supervisors, not pay the agency for their training experience. Such arrangements remove the professional-in-training form the student role and elevate the student to the status of business partner in the training process.

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Hour Requirements

Students register for 24 credit hours of Supervised Experience (6 hours per quarter) each year, beginning in their 2nd year in the program. Students can transfer credit for practicum if they have transfer credit for prerequisite course work (see below) and sufficient clock hours of practicum, supervised by a licensed psychologist, from prior graduate training in psychology. With transfer credit for practicum, placement during the first year of the program is contingent on availability of training slots.

Time on practicum is minimally 16 hours per week, typically scheduled over 2 days. All practica are for 12 months, beginning from September 1st - 15th and continuing through August 31st . Practicum days are Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays, depending upon the student's year in the SOPP program. Some sites require evening hours. Wednesdays are generally reserved for on campus seminars, colloquia, committee, and other meetings. A target of 30% of a trainee's time should be spent in direct service to clients. SOPP requires that students serve at least 700 hours of training and supervision each practicum year. SOPP Students must have a minimum of 2000 hours of supervised experience in order to start internship. Students must have a minimum of 1400 hours of practicum at the time of the faculty review in order to be certified to apply for internship. Students are encouraged to take maximum advantage of their practicum experience in order to enhance their professional development, best prepare for the Clinical Comprehensive Examination, and be competitive in their applications for internship.

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Leave During Practicum

Each site should make clear with the trainee policies and procedures for approved leave. Since trainees are on site for a full year, four days (2 weeks) of personal leave and two days (1 week) of professional leave time are recommended.

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Supervision

Supervision is an intervention provided by a more senior member of a profession to a more junior member or members of that same profession. The relationship is evaluative, extends over time, and has the simultaneous purposes of enhancing the professional functioning of the more junior person(s), monitoring the quality of professional services offered to the clients that she, he, or they see, and serving as a gatekeeper for those who are to enter the particular profession. (page 8) Bernard, J. M. & Goodyear, R. K. (2004) Fundamentals of Clinical Supervision (3rd ed). Boston: Pearson and Allyn and Bacon.

The general supervisor must be a licensed psychologist who has oversight for the clinical work performed by practicum students, in accordance with the Ohio Administrative Code. During each week of practicum, students are required to have at least one hour of regularly scheduled, face-to-face, individual supervision. This supervision should occur at a regularly scheduled time and otherwise conform to the requirements of the Ohio Psychology Law. Some sites and clinical activities require more supervisory time. Other individual and group supervision, case conferences, staff training and meetings are highly desired and required when available. Supervisors may use methods and styles suited for the context of their organizational setting, clinical populations, psychological orientation, and accepted standards of supervisory practice in the field of clinical psychology. The regular use of audio or video taping or live observation of student work should be an integral part of practicum supervision. It is expected that each quarter's supervisory evaluation will include data from at least one of these supervisory methods in addition to the student's verbal report.

The clinical supervisor should also coordinate any consultation from other clinical personnel required by the unique needs of a client or due to special training needs which the supervisor cannot provide Consultation enables greater richness in training for a student and allows for exposure to areas where the clinical consultant has greater depth of expertise or experience than does the clinical supervisor. Consultation is by definition time limited. Clinical responsibility for the case always remains with the general supervisor.

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Prerequisites for the First Practicum

All students must pass the following courses with a grade of A or B before they may begin their initial practicum at SOPP:

May be taken as a co-requisite with some prior graduate level coursework in diversity

by entering students who receive transfer credit for the remaining prerequisite courses.

Any student who receives an unsatisfactory grade in any of the above prerequisite courses must remediate that course before the start of practicum (typically September 1 of the beginning of Fall Quarter). Students who have not remediated prerequisite courses by that time will not be allowed to go on practicum until the Fall Quarter of the following academic year.

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Compensation

It is expected that all students on practicum will be compensated. The current practicum stipend is $7000 per academic year. In unique situations, a student may be placed in an unfunded training position by agreement of the School, the training site, and the student. Payment of stipends is contracted through the SOPP Office of Support Services.

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Student Liability Insurance

All students are required to purchase liability insurance before the beginning of each academic year. Students must carry liability insurance from the time they enter SOPP until they complete internship. The School recommends that students join the American Psychological Association (APA) as student affiliate members (www.apa.org/membership ) and then purchase liability insurance at the reduced student rate through the APA Insurance Trust (APAIT) (www.apa.org/apait ). Required levels of coverage are $1,000,000 each incident/$3,000,000 annual aggregate. This coverage cost $35. Student malpractice insurance is designed to cover clinical activities that are a required part of a student's curriculum, e.g., practicum and internship, other direct service course requirements.

When a student performs psychological services at a site or position that is not formally affiliated with SOPP as part of its training curriculum, student malpractice insurance does not apply. This includes paid employment and volunteer work. In cases where the student is working under a license in another discipline, such as social work or nursing, that work is also not covered by student psychological insurance or psychological supervision. To keep SOPP informed about students’ other professional qualifications, students must keep a current copy of their mental health licenses and/or certificates on file with the OCT. Students who are providing psychological services outside of the SOPP setting, as an employee or as a volunteer, should consult with their agency, supervisor, and the State Board to ensure that they have appropriate supervision and liability coverage.

Please Note: Proof of liability insurance coverage must be submitted to the SOPP OCT on or before September 1 of each year. Proof of insurance coverage should also be given to the practicum site during the first September week of training. The acceptable form of proof is a copy of the "face sheet" or Declaration Page. This page states the type and levels of the student's coverage. Students are also responsible for providing proof of insurance renewal as applicable. A copy of the student's Declaration Page will be kept at the School. As the insured, the student is responsible for getting copies to the practicum site. Students will not be allowed to begin practicum unless a copy of this proof of liability is on file in the OCT by September 1. Students buying liability insurance for the first time need to make their purchase in time to allow for coverage to begin by September 1.

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Registration with the State Board

The Ohio State Board of Psychology requires that students who perform psychological work under the supervision of licensed psychologists register with the State Board. For those practicum students who are supervised by Fully Affiliated, Continuing Faculty or as part of an SOPP Non-Continuing or Adjunct Faculty Contract, this process is coordinated by the OCT. Each student signs a completed Supervisee Registration Form (SRF) which is filed with the State Board along with a statement of responsibility for individual supervision signed by all affected faculty. Community site supervisors file the SRF for their SOPP supervisees independently.

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Practicum Monitoring

The OCT uses the following forms and procedures to monitor supervised experience. Copies of all training forms can be downloaded using the following link. Clinical Training Practicum Forms

Please Note: All students considering early leave from practicum for internship should make sure that all required forms are completed in a timely manner. Failure to bring closure to the monitoring and evaluation process will negatively impact the practicum grade and, consequently, eligibility to begin internship. The internship site will be so notified.

The Practicum Site Liaison staff person conducts site visits with all new training placements and with continuing programs. New visits typically include a tour of the facility, review of forms and sample reports, meeting with the general supervisor and agency administrative personnel, and review of SOPP practicum requirements prior to the signing of a training agreement. These visits seek to ensure that new sites offer needed training that is in concert with the SOPP mission. Visits to continuing sites are planned to include the supervisor and/or trainees to review recent appraisals of the student and training site. Telephone and e-mail contact with supervisors are part of the ongoing monitoring process. Student questions and concerns regarding their practicum training should be directed to the Practicum Site Liaison.

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Practicum Forms

The Field Placement Description specifies the tasks and responsibilities of the trainee and supervisor, the amount of time, as a percentage of the training week, for each task, vacation/leave time, and the identity of the primary and any secondary clinical supervisors. This form helps the student and practicum supervisor(s) reach consensus about the nature of the training experience. The field placement description is due in to the OCT by October 10 th. Field Placement Description

The Training Activities Report (TAR) is the instrument used to determine the type and quantity of clinical activity and supervisory experiences students receive. On the TAR, students report hours and numbers of these activities. Each practicum trainee submits a TAR, each month, beginning in October, and information from the TAR is entered into a database each month for tracking purposes. TAR information is also required for internship, so students should keep copies of all TARs submitted for their own records. The trainee and the supervisor both review and sign each month's TAR, which is due to the OCT by the 10th of each month, except during the last month of each quarter, when TARs are due by the last day of final exams. Training Activities Report (TAR)

The Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) is used to evaluate the performance and progress of trainees while on practicum. As such, it is the primary tool supporting assigned grades for Supervised Experience. Supervisors rate students in the six core competency areas (relationship, assessment, intervention, research/evaluation, supervision/education, consultation /management), diversity, as well as professional behavior and development. Supervisors also provide narrative comment on each student's strengths and areas in need of growth.A student may also add written comment about their training experience. The supervisor and the student must both sign this form. The student's signature acknowledges that she or he has reviewed the QPR. Students are responsible for supplying supervisors with QPRs in time to have the completed and signed form turned in to the OCT by the last day of final exams each quarter. Quarterly Progress Report (QPR)

Evaluation of General Supervision is the document that helps to inform the OCT about the student experience of supervision. The focus is on impact of the supervisor's style, methods, focus, and quality of the training relationship. Students numerically rate these areas and provide elaborating qualitative comments. A general supervision evaluation is done twice each year-before the end of winter quarter exams in March (6 Month) and before the end of summer quarter exams in August (12 Month). After a student completes the March evaluation form, it is discussed with the supervisor, who signs the form prior to the student submitting it to the OCT. The student completes and signs the August form without the supervisor's review or signature to make this end of the year evaluation process similiar to student evaluations in other SOPP courses. The Associate Dean for Clinical Training and Psychological Services (ADCTPS) uses data on evaluation of supervisors in aggregate form to provide feedback to supervisors. The ADCTPS will notify students for discussion when specific evaluations suggest focused follow-up. Evaluation of General Supervision 6 months

Evaluation of General Supervision 12 months (Not available online, Contact OCT)

Of course, students should discuss positive feedback and concerns with their supervisors as they occur and seek consultation from the OCT, their Practice Tutorial Instructor, or advisor, in a timely manner, on any unresolved issues. It is considered part of the professional development aspect of practicum for the OCT and faculty to both provide support and modeling for the address of student concerns about supervision (and any other element of the supervised experience). The General Evaluation of Supervision form is a designed as a summary tool and should not be used as the initial outlet for significant positive or negative feedback.

On the Student's Evaluation of Field Training, students provide numerical ratings and narrative comment on the type and quality of practicum experiences and perceived support of a site for supervised clinical training. This report used by the OCT to assist in assessing the continued fit of sites for the training mission of the School. It is completed and submitted to the OCT in July or August, but no later than the end of exams for summer quarter. Evaluation of Field Training

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Practicum Grading

Supervised Experience is graded on a Pass (P)/Unsatisfactory (U) basis. The ADCTPS assigns practicum grades based on consideration of the QPR ratings and comments, any other written communication from the supervisor or site, and student adherence to reporting guidelines for practicum forms. All rules and procedures outlined in the General Grading and Remediation Policies section in the Student Handbook apply to the evaluation of Supervised Experience.

Early identification and communication of performance and behavior concerns among the supervisor, student, and OCT are essential for effective evaluation. Supervisors and trainees are advised to contact the OCT at any time if performance, interpersonal, or organizational problems arise. Specific practicum evaluation criteria are as follows:

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Practicum Site Matching Decision Rules

Parameters In Order of Weighting:

Need for placement at an SOPP Program.

Student's need for either additional assessment or intervention experience.

Student experience with clients culturally or ethnically different from him or herself.

Faculty appraisal of the student's clinical training needs and priorities.

Student's level in the program (i.e., 4 th years' needs addressed first, then typically 3 rd , 2 nd , etc.

Rating by potential sites following interviews.

Filling of available training slots for the year.

Student's own appraisal of his or her needs and priorities.

Student site ranking.

Matching Decision Rules:

Students are asked to fill out a Student Practicum Profile Survey, giving an overview of their clinical practice activities thus far through the School. Students should review descriptions of practica options for the upcoming year; review their career goals and perceived needs with their advisors; and then submit the Student Practicum Profile Survey, signed by the advisor, to the Office of Clinical Training. Thoughtful completion of this form and a vita will be very important guides for the placement process.

The overriding priority in placement matching is that each student is afforded a balanced training experience over the course of his/her clinical training with the School. This balance is achieved, in part, through a yearly review of each student's training needs and progress by the faculty. This balance is also practically achieved, in part, by applying the first four priorities listed in the above section on weighting of placement decisions. If a student hasn't been at a designated internal program, for example, then such a site will become a priority for that student. If a student has had strong intervention experience but little formal assessment work, then a strong assessment site is a priority. If a student has worked mainly with clients matching his or her own culture or ethnicity, then a site exposing the student to clients who are culturally or ethnically different from the student is a priority.

The Associate Dean for Clinical Training will then review the Practicum Profile Surveys and vitae of all students and then work with the Training Committee to select up to three sites for each student to interview. The needs of the most advanced students in the program will be addressed first. An effort will be made not to overwhelm any site with candidates, and to spread candidates as evenly as possible across sites. Therefore, as successive class levels of students are addressed, some sites will become unavailable to newer students in the program, and other sites from the list appropriate to their needs will then be selected for them.

Students will be given their lists of up to three sites at which to interview, and they will be given three weeks to interview at those sites. Failure to complete assigned interviews may result in removal from the practicum process for the year. Following these interviews, each site will rank the student's interviewed for placement at their site.

Again, the School's most advanced class of students are matched first, because this is their last chance to complete their training needs and preferences in practicum before going on to internship. Once again, an attempt will be made to distribute all students evenly across available sites. The students newest to the program are thus less likely to fulfill all of their expressed needs, but due consideration will be offered to these newer students' prior experience and appraised training needs in assigning their placements. Newer students will gain priority as they progress through the program.

Students newest to the program are placed based upon a review of any prior experience and a faculty appraisal of their training needs. Those with less prior experience and/or who have greater needs for closer supervision are more likely to be placed in one of the School's programs.

The student(s) preliminarily matched with each site will be shared with each site to be assured that there is no match judged as inappropriate, or too challenging. This time also allows for discussion with sites as to exactly how the students were assigned to their site, and why some students judged acceptable by the site may have been assigned elsewhere.

Finally, each student is informed of his or her practicum site, and the sites are informed of their assigned student(s) for the following year. Students are then directed to contact the assigned site and make arrangements for the following year.

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