Postdoctoral Training

History

Postdoctoral training, or training that occurs following the receipt of the doctoral degree, has been the subject of long debate within psychology. The requirement for postdoctoral training dates back to the 1949 Boulder conference, during which conference participants asserted that to become proficient in psychotherapy, postdoctoral training would be needed. The value of postdoctoral training was further affirmed at the 1955 Stanford and 1958 Miami conferences; however, there was no consensus that it should be a required part of the education and training sequence. It was at the Chicago conference, held in 1965, that postdoctoral training was conceptualized as a vehicle for securing advanced and specialized competence.

It was not until 1972, however, that the first conference devoted specifically to education and training at the postdoctoral level was held at the Menninger Clinic. However, no specific guidelines for postdoctoral training were devised. At the 1973 Vail conference, some attention was paid to postdoctoral training related to continuing professional development and to matters of access and flexibility. At the 1987 National Conference on Graduate Education in Psychology, conference participants concluded that narrow specialization most appropriately occurred postdoctor-ally. At the annual APA convention in 1990, there was a meeting to discuss a model for a national program of psychology postdoctoral training that would be offered through comprehensive psychology postdoctoral centers of excellence.

Some of the most ardent supporters for accreditation at the postdoctoral level were individuals in the specialties. Throughout the 1980s, guidelines were developed for postdoctoral training in various specialty areas, such as health, clinical child psychology, and clinical neuropsychology. In 1992, in response to concerns expressed at national conferences (e.g., the Gainesville conference) regarding the lack of consistency in internship training in the postdoctoral experience and to calls articulated by the Joint Council on Professional Education in Psychology (JCPEP) for general standards in postdoctoral training and formal specialty certification, the first National Conference on Postdoctoral Training in Professional Psychology, cosponsored by APA and the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Conference participants crafted a policy document that addressed the purposes of postdoctoral training; entrance requirements; program content, structure, and organization; faculty-staff; and evaluation mechanisms. They developed recommendations for initiatives to foster excellence and innovation in postdoctoral education and training and called for guidelines and principles for accrediting postdoctoral programs.

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