Professional Geropsychology Research Articles

DEVELOPMENT OF PODCAST IN SERVICE OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF GEROPSYCHOLOGISTS

Abstract The current geropsychology workforce falls woefully short of meeting the mental healthcare needs of older adults, with only 3% of licensed psychologists identifying Geropsychology as their primary or secondary specialty. Formal training in geriatric mental health is extremely limited. Out of the over 400 APA-accredited doctorate-level psychology programs in the U.S., only five provide specialty training in Geropsychology. Consequently, the vast majority of psychologists who treat older adults have never received formal education or training in geriatrics. It is imperative that evidence-based geropsychology education is disseminated to a wide audience of mental health providers across all levels of training and career development. The Geropsychology Podcast was developed to address this gap as a novel pedagogical resource commensurate with educational competencies established by the ‘Pikes Peak Model for Professional Geropsychology.’ Topics include geriatric assessment methods, intervention, consultation, and foundational knowledge on adult development and aging. The feasibility and acceptability of the podcast was evaluated with a two-year pilot study from 2019 to 2021. During this time, eleven episodes were published across multiple podcast platforms. Preliminary results found the episodes were downloaded by over 1,500 unique listeners across 34 countries. These results indicate that The Geropsychology Podcast is scalable, acceptable, and potentially fulfilling an educational need that people are actively seeking. This poster describes the podcast’s model of curriculum development and ongoing quality metrics and impact analysis. Future work holds that this podcast will continue to be a vital resource for the field.

Healthcare Quality Improvement Competency: A Clinical and Training Imperative for Geropsychology.

Quality improvement (QI) work is increasingly necessary to ensure healthcare is delivered safely, efficiently, and equitably. As geropsychologists play an increasingly vital role in healthcare service delivery for older adults, it is imperative that they develop professional competence in QI, yet there is little formal QI training aimed at geropsychologists or to graduate students pursuing geropsychology. This article aims to elucidate the importance of QI education and training in geropsychology. In line with the Pikes Peak model for training in professional geropsychology, we outline QI knowledge and skills competencies for geropsychology training and suggest a rubric for integrating QI education into academic and clinical training from graduate school to professional practice. We provide recommended readings that geropsychology educators can read to become familiar with QI or use as part of a syllabus. Finally, we offer some recommendations for how current and future geropsychologists can be leaders in quality improvement work.

Interdisciplinary neuropalliative care: A unique and valuable clinical training experience for geropsychology trainees

ABSTRACT To address workforce issues in professional geropsychology, clinical training sites must offer opportunities to build skills for working with older adults and aging families. Neuropalliative care (NPC) may offer a valuable learning environment for geropsychology trainees to develop professional competencies, while positively contributing to patient care. This article describes a novel clinical rotation for an advanced geropsychology trainee in an interdisciplinary specialty NPC clinic. A co-assessment model emerged as a useful strategy for integrating the trainee into the established NPC team. Two case examples illustrate the co-assessment’s ability to enhance: collaboration within the clinic; psychological care for patients and care partners; and opportunities for the trainee to build competencies related to assessment, intervention, teams, and consultation. This paper concludes with a discussion of the benefits of NPC as a clinical training rotation for geropsychology trainees, as well as practical considerations for implementation in other clinics.

GEROPSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF THE INTERNSHIP MATCH AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING

There has been little literature on the effectiveness of the clinical psychology internship match program within the specialty of geropsychology. This study reports student responses to a 2018 survey conducted by the Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs (CoPGTP). Students reported that they completed a mean of 18.4 (SD = 7.23) internship applications, and had a mean of 8.4 (SD = 2.3) interviews. Compared to generalists, geropsychology students applied to and interviewed at more programs, felt slightly less supported, but matched more frequently at their first choice site. All respondents matched to generalist rather than geropsychology programs, and all matched to their first ranked programs. The majority of students felt strongly supported, and noted that seminars, essay review, and the Pike’s Peak training model were important resources. Reasons for not choosing geropsychology programs included geographical preferences and the belief that adequate geropsychology training can be obtained in a generalist track.

Commentary on “building foundational knowledge competencies in professional geropsychology”.

Commentary on “building foundational knowledge competencies in professional geropsychology”.

Building foundational knowledge competencies in professional geropsychology: Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs (CoPGTP) recommendations.

Building foundational knowledge competencies in professional geropsychology: Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs (CoPGTP) recommendations.

Should Dad Be Driving? Ethical Challenges in Professional GeropsychologyShould Dad Be Driving? Ethical Challenges in Professional Geropsychology

Should Dad Be Driving? Ethical Challenges in Professional GeropsychologyShould Dad Be Driving? Ethical Challenges in Professional Geropsychology

Training for Geropsychology Supervision and Practice: Perspectives of Geropsychology Program Graduates.

Addressing the geropsychology workforce shortage requires ongoing training of psychologists to develop geropsychology competencies, as well as expanding the number of geropsychology supervisors to train them. This study surveyed graduates of geropsychology doctoral and postdoctoral training programs regarding their current geropsychology practice and supervision activities and perceptions of their own training preparation for these activities. One hundred psychologists (87 who had completed all formal training and 13 current postdoctoral fellows) responded to an online survey. Of those who had completed geropsychology training, 82% reported currently engaging in clinical care, and 55% reported providing supervision; more than half of clinical and supervision activities focused on older adults. Participants reported generally strong quality of training to prepare them for providing geropsychology services; areas of more uneven preparation included family and group interventions and select consultation activities. Participants reported quite variable preparation for general supervision practice, and desire for more training and practice in supervisory roles. Geropsychology training programs may use feedback from graduates for ongoing program development, and professional geropsychology may wish to consider forums for enhancing geropsychology supervision skills.

Training for Research and Teaching in Geropsychology: Preparing the Next Generation of Scholars and Educators

For geropsychology to flourish in the years ahead, we need scientists to advance knowledge and teachers to draw new professionals into the field. In this project the authors surveyed 100 geropsychologists who completed a doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology about their experience with training for research and teaching. The majority were currently conducting some degree of research (38%) and some form of teaching (45%). The majority of ratings for components of research training were in the “very good to excellent” range, whereas elements of teacher training were rated in the “poor to good” range, though there was variability among persons and components. Qualitative comments revealed enthusiasm for research and teaching roles and a need to enhance our training of geropsychologists as educators. The authors provide several suggestions that could enhance research and teacher training for current and future students of professional geropsychology.

Supervision in professional geropsychology training: Perspectives of supervisors and supervisees.

Supervision in professional geropsychology training: Perspectives of supervisors and supervisees.

Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Older Adults.

The "Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Older Adults" are intended to assist psychologists in evaluating their own readiness for working with older adults and in seeking and using appropriate education and training to increase their knowledge, skills, and experience relevant to this area of practice. The specific goals of these professional practice guidelines are to provide practitioners with (a) a frame of reference for engaging in clinical work with older adults and (b) basic information and further references in the areas of attitudes, general aspects of aging, clinical issues, assessment, intervention, consultation, professional issues, and continuing education and training relative to work with this group. The guidelines recognize and appreciate that there are numerous methods and pathways whereby psychologists may gain expertise and/or seek training in working with older adults. This document is designed to offer recommendations on those areas of awareness, knowledge, and clinical skills considered as applicable to this work, rather than prescribing specific training methods to be followed. The guidelines also recognize that some psychologists will specialize in the provision of services to older adults and may therefore seek more extensive training consistent with practicing within the formally recognized specialty of Professional Geropsychology (APA, 2010c).

Preliminary validation of a tool to assess competencies for professional geropsychology practice.

Psychologists will need to develop increased competencies for Geropsychology practice to serve the behavioral and mental health care needs of an aging population. The Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs (CoPGTP) developed the Pikes Peak Geropsychology Knowledge and Skill Assessment Tool to help psychologists and geropsychology trainees evaluate professional geropsychology competencies and related training needs. In this study, geropsychologists and geropsychology trainees were asked to complete the competency tool to evaluate its psychometric properties and to assess

Mentoring for Professional Geropsychology within a Doctoral Program

Mentoring in doctoral programs in professional psychology has its roots in mentoring in science programs of all types. Professional psychology in general may suffer from conflating mentoring with clinical supervision. Using the Pikes Peak Model competencies as a framework, mentoring in attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to professional geropsychology training are described.

Attitude, knowledge, and skill competencies for practice in professional geropsychology: Implications for training and building a geropsychology workforce.

Attitude, knowledge, and skill competencies for practice in professional geropsychology: Implications for training and building a geropsychology workforce.

Predoctoral training models in professional geropsychology.

Predoctoral training models in professional geropsychology.

Development of a tool to evaluate geropsychology knowledge and skill competencies

Workforce shortages to meet the mental health needs of the world's aging population are well documented. Within the field of professional geropsychology in the U.S.A., a national conference was convened in 2006 to delineate competencies for psychological practice with older adults and a training model for the field. The conference produced the Pikes Peak Model of Geropsychology Training. The Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs (CoPGTP) aimed to produce a competency evaluation tool to help individuals define training needs for and evaluate progress in development of the Pikes Peak professional geropsychology competencies. A CoPGTP task force worked for one year to adapt the Pikes Peak Model geropsychology attitude, knowledge, and skill competencies into an evaluation tool for use by supervisors, students and professional psychologists at all levels of geropsychology training. The task force developed a competency rating tool, which included delineation of behavioral anchors for each of the Pikes Peak geropsychology knowledge and skill competencies and use of a developmental rating scale. Pilot testing was conducted, with 13 individuals providing feedback on the clarity and feasibility of the tool for evaluation of oneself or students. The Geropsychology Knowledge and Skills Assessment Tool, Version 1.1, is now posted on the CoPGTP website and is being used by geropsychology training programs in the U.S.A. The evaluation tool has both strengths and limitations. We discuss future directions for its ongoing validation and professional use.

Pikes Peak model for training in professional geropsychology.

The aging of the population will increase demand for psychological services for older adults, which challenges the profession of psychology to provide those services. In response to that challenge, professional geropsychology has been developing over the past few decades to meet current and prepare for anticipated future demand. The development of a range of training opportunities is important to enable psychologists to work effectively with older adults. This article describes the Pikes Peak model for training in professional geropsychology. The model is an aspirational, competencies-based approach to training professional geropsychologists that allows for entry points at multiple levels of professional development.

Postdoctoral training in professional geropsychology: A survey of fellowship graduates.

Postdoctoral training in professional geropsychology: A survey of fellowship graduates.

Postdoctoral training in professional geropsychology: A survey of fellowship graduates.

Postdoctoral training in professional geropsychology: A survey of fellowship graduates.