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17 CAR § 95-404. Requirements for licensure as a psychologist
17 CAR § 95-404. Requirements for licensure as a psychologist.
(a) A doctoral degree in psychology from a regionally accredited institution that meets the following criteria and is recognized by the Arkansas Psychology Board as maintaining satisfactory standards:
(1) Programs that are accredited by the American Psychological Association or the Canadian Psychological Association; or
(2) Programs that meet all of the following criteria:
(A) Training at the doctoral level in professional psychology offered in a regionally accredited institution of higher education;
(B) The psychology program is a recognizable coherent entity within the institution;
(C) The program is an integrated, organized sequence of study;
(D) There must be an identifiable psychology faculty on-site sufficient in size to ensure the ratio of faculty to students is adequate for instruction;
(E)(i) The faculty must also have sufficient breadth in order to ensure that the scope of knowledge in psychology provides for adequate instruction.
(ii) Sufficiency shall be subject to the judgment of the board;
(F) The program has an identifiable body of students who are matriculated in that program for a degree; and
(G)(i) The curriculum shall encompass a minimum of three (3) academic years of full-time graduate study and a minimum of one (1) year’s residency at the educational institution granting the doctoral degree.
(ii) Residence requires education and training to be completed over the days and weeks of an academic year on campus and provides students access to a core psychology faculty, whose primary time and employment responsibilities are to the educational institution, as well as access to other students matriculated in that program.
(iii) Residency is not intended to be accrued in experiences off campus in which medical or nonpsychology services are observed and discussed as a substitute for regular classroom instruction or seminars.
(iv) Models that use face-to-face contact for short durations throughout a year as a substitute for full-time residency defeat the intended purpose of residency.
(v)(a) In addition to instruction in scientific and professional ethics and standards, research design and methodology, statistics, and psychometrics, the core program shall require each student to demonstrate competence in each of the following substantive content areas.
(b) This typically will be met by including a minimum of three (3) or more graduate semester hours (five (5) or more graduate quarter hours) in each of these four (4) substantive content areas:
(1) Biological bases of behavior:
(A) Physiological psychology;
(B) Comparative psychology;
(C) Sensation and perception; and
(D) Psychopharmacology;
(2) Cognitive-affective bases of behavior:
(A) Learning;
(B) Thinking;
(C) Motivation; and
(D) Emotion;
(3) Social bases of behavior:
(A) Social psychology;
(B) Group processes; and
(C) Organizational and systems theory; and
(4) Individual differences:
(A) Personality theory;
(B) Human development; and
(C) Abnormal psychology.
(b) A reference documenting successful program completion from the director of the academic training program at the institution where the academic work and/or training were obtained.
(c)(1) Three (3) references from qualified psychologists with direct and comprehensive knowledge of the applicant's competence.
(2) A qualified psychologist is defined in 17 CAR § 95-105(b)(2).
(d)(1) Applicants who hold a doctoral degree in a closely allied field may be considered for licensure if the degree is from a regionally accredited institution that is recognized by the board as maintaining satisfactory standards.
(2) This training must have been in a program that stands as a recognizable entity within the institution, and the program, wherever it may be administratively housed, must clearly be identified and labeled as a psychology program.
(3) Pertinent institutional catalogues and brochures must specify that its intent is to educate and train professional psychologists.
(4) The training must meet all the requirements of this subpart.
(e) Academic course requirements. Professional education programs in psychology are to be accredited by the American Psychological Association or will include course requirements as follows:
(1)(A) A minimum of eighty (80) graduate semester hours (or one hundred thirty-three (133) graduate quarter hours) with a grade of “B” or above.
(B)(i) Coursework must have been taught by a qualified psychologist.
(ii) A qualified psychologist is defined in 17 CAR § 95-105(b)(2);
(2) Graduate course work of three (3) semester hours (five (5) quarter hours) with a grade of “B” or above in seven (7) of the following general areas of psychological study:
(A) Learning (theories or processes);
(B) Statistics (descriptive and inferential);
(C) Individual intelligence testing with practicum;
(D) Individual personality appraisal;
(E) Behavior deviation or abnormal psychology;
(F) Personality theories;
(G) Developmental psychology;
(H) Psychotherapy theories and techniques;
(I) Social psychology;
(J) Industrial/organizational psychology;
(K) Research design;
(L) Behavior theory or techniques or behavior modification;
(M) Ethics and professional issues; and
(N) Physiological psychology or sensation and perception; and
(3)(A) A maximum of two (2) of the courses listed in subdivision (e)(1) of this section may be taken as independent study courses.
(B) No course work required in subdivision (e)(2) of this section may be taken as independent study.
(C) Examples of independent study include but are not limited to:
(i) Courses defined by the institution as independent study;
(ii) Classes in which fewer than two (2) students are enrolled;
(iii) Correspondence courses;
(iv) Classes that have less than one (1) class meeting every other week; and
(v) Classes that do not meet on an identifiable campus.
(D) However, a course offered within a program that is accredited by the American Psychological Association may have features (e)(3)(C)(iv) and (v) of this section and not be considered independent study by the board.
(f) Supervised experience.
(1) To become licensed in Arkansas, a psychologist must complete a two-thousand-hour predoctoral internship program and obtain two thousand (2,000) hours of post-doctoral supervision.
(2) Predoctoral internship:
(A) A predoctoral internship program that is accredited by the American Psychological Association that provides training consistent with both the doctoral program of study and the statement of intent; or
(B) A two-thousand-hour internship program that meets all of the following criteria:
(i)(a) The internship program must be organized, in contrast to supervised experience or on-the-job training, and designed to provide the intern with a programmed sequence of training experiences.
(b) The primary focus and purpose must be assuring the breadth and quality of training;
(ii) The internship program must have a clearly designated staff psychologist who is responsible for the integrity and quality of the training program and who is actively licensed/certified by the board or the proper psychological licensing entity, if participating in an internship in another state;
(iii) The internship program must have two (2) or more psychologists on the staff as supervisors, at least one (1) of whom must be actively licensed as a psychologist by the board or the proper psychological licensing entity, if participating in an internship in another state;
(iv)(a) Internship supervision must be provided by a staff member of the internship program or by an affiliate of that program who carries clinical responsibility for the cases being supervised.
(b) At least half of the internship supervision must be provided by one (1) or more psychologists;
(v) The internship program must provide training in a range of assessment and treatment activities conducted directly with patients seeking health services;
(vi)(a) The internship program must be completed within a multidisciplinary setting.
(b) The contribution of a minimum of two (2) other disciplines, whose expertise is germane, into the evaluation and intervention decisions in professional problems areas is considered a necessary aspect of professional training and experience;
(vii) The intern must spend at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the program in direct patient contact (minimum five hundred (500) hours);
(viii)(a) The internship program must include a minimum of two (2) hours per week (regardless of whether the internship was completed in one (1) year or two (2)) of regularly scheduled, formal, face-to-face individual supervision with the specific intent of dealing with health services rendered directly by the intern.
(b) There must also be at least two (2) additional hours per week in learning activities such as:
(1) Case conferences involving cases in which the intern was actively involved;
(2) Seminars dealing with clinical issues;
(3) Co-therapy with a staff person including discussion;
(4) Group supervision; or
(5) Additional individual supervision;
(ix) Training must be post-clerkship, post-practicum, and post-externship level;
(x) The intern must have a title indicating his or her training status;
(xi) The internship program must make available to prospective interns a written statement (i.e., brochure, handbook, etc.) that describes the goals and content of the internship program, stating clear expectations for quantity and quality of the intern’s work;
(xii) The internship program must be completed within twenty-four (24) months;
(xiii) Public announcement of services and fees and contact with the lay or professional community shall be offered only by or in the name of the supervising psychologist or agency;
(xiv) Users of the intern's services shall be:
(a) Informed as to the intern's status; and
(b) Given specific information as to his or her qualifications and functions;
(xv) Persons served shall be informed that they may meet with the supervising psychologist at their request or at the request of the intern or the supervisor;
(xvi)(a) The supervisor is responsible for all documentation, including:
(1) Clinical records;
(2) Reports; and
(3) Written correspondence.
(b) Countersignatures may be required, at the discretion of the supervising psychologist;
(xvii) The supervisor shall:
(a) Establish and maintain a level of supervisory contact consistent with established professional standards; and
(b) Be fully accountable in the event that professional, ethical, or legal issues are raised; and
(xviii)(a) The internship program must have a minimum of two (2) interns at the doctoral level of training during applicant's training period.
(b) An internship with only one (1) intern must be approved by the board as clearly meeting all items in subdivision (f)(2)(B) of this section.
(3) For practice that is not health service related (i.e., does not provide direct ameliorative services), two thousand (2,000) hours of a supervised predoctoral internship program consistent with the doctoral program of study and the statement of intent to practice psychology are required.
(g) All requirements listed in Arkansas Code § 17-97-101 et seq., must be met.
(h) Post-doctoral supervised experience.
(1) Two thousand (2,000) hours of supervised post-doctoral experience is required.
(2) Post-doctoral supervision must meet the following criteria:
(A) Be in line with the individual’s program of doctoral study and consistent with the statement of intent to practice;
(B)(i) Be full-time (forty (40) hours per week) for at least one (1) calendar year (fifty (50) weeks).
(ii) A part-time post-doctoral supervised experience must be preapproved by the board.
(iii) Post-doctoral supervision may not exceed three (3) years;
(C) At least twenty-five percent (25%) (minimum of five hundred (500) hours) of the post-doctoral experience must be in the provision of direct client services (i.e., psychological treatment and assessment) consistent with the individual’s statement of intent to practice; and
(D) Be under the supervision of a licensed psychologist or psychologists whose statement of intent to practice is consistent with the area or areas of supervised experience.
(3) The supervisee must accumulate a minimum of one (1) hour per week of regularly scheduled formal face-to-face supervision with the specific intent of dealing with services rendered directly by the supervisee.
(4)(A) Because the professional practice of psychology is not limited to clinical work, components of practice other than direct ameliorative services may be included in the post-doctoral supervised experience.
(B) These components include:
(i) Teaching of psychology at a recognized academic institution or training program;
(ii) Research in psychology;
(iii) Consultation in psychology; and
(iv) Psychological or mental health related administration.
(5) For practice that is not health service related (i.e., does not provide direct ameliorative services), two thousand (2,000) hours of supervised training experience consistent with the doctoral program of study, internship, and the statement of intent to practice psychology are required.
(6)(A) To begin accruing post-doctoral supervised hours, applicants for licensure as a psychologist must apply for and be granted provisional licensure status.
(B) If they have not already passed the written examination, applicants are expected to pass the written licensure exam during the provisional licensure period.
(C) Provisional licensure status is granted for up to eighteen (18) months and may be extended up to three (3) years.
(D) If an applicant has not passed the written examination after three (3) years, they may not engage in the professional practice of psychology as defined in Arkansas Code § 17-97-102.
(i) Senior psychologist licensure. Notwithstanding requirements for licensure as outlined in Arkansas Code § 17-97-302, the board shall issue a senior psychologist license to an applicant who has:
(1) At least twenty (20) years of licensure to practice psychology in a state of the United States or in Canada if that license was based on a doctoral degree;
(2) Received no disciplinary sanction during the entire period of licensure; and
(3) Tendered the appropriate application and fees as required under Arkansas Code § 17-97-101 et seq., or this part.