Commentary: competencies in pediatric psychology: polishing pandora's box.

Abstract

I applaud the Task Force on Competencies and Best Training Practice in Pediatric Psychology for painstakingly organizing and detailing core competencies to consider at different stages of training in pediatric psychology. Specifying training in pediatric psychology is a longstanding interest in the field (e.g., Drotar, 1975; Spirito et al., 2003; Tuma, 1980), and the current set of competencies is by far the most comprehensive to date. Detailing agreed-upon pediatric psychology training competencies has value to trainees, trainers, educators, regulators, policy makers, patients, and other stakeholders. Although I am enthusiastic about the classification of training objectives, there are a number of important considerations and challenges when embarking on this endeavor.