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The Counseling Psychology Program is designed to meet the
criteria set forth by the American Psychological Association
Committee on Accreditation. Consistent with these criteria,
required coursework includes a variety of core psychology
courses reflecting scientific and professional ethics and
standards, biological bases of behavior, cognitive-affective
bases of behavior, social bases of behavior, human development,
and individual differences. In addition, students are required
to show proficiency through coursework and general examinations
in research, supervised practice (including clinical supervision,
assessment, and consultation), and counseling as a specialty.
The sequencing of courses in the program has been organized,
within certain scheduling constraints, to encourage the professional
and scientific development of the student. Thus, theories
and techniques courses and practica, as well as the research
requirements, are arranged so that the level of detail and
complexity of the material increases as the student progresses
through the program. Students entering the program with a
bachelor’s degree can expect to spend four years in
full-time campus coursework and an additional year on internship.
Depending upon the nature of prior training, students entering
the program with a masters degree can expect to spend at least
three years in full-time on campus coursework plus the internship.
It is required that all students enrolled be full-time, therefore
only limited employment can be allowed.
Professional Focus:
The preparation for professional practice is intended to
provide a firm foundation in counseling psychology with an
additional focus on marriage and the family. This objective
is addressed via coursework on counseling theories and techniques,
assessment, career and vocational issues, and practica. The
marriage and family emphasis is reflected in required coursework
examining marital, family counseling and therapy, and interventions
with children. Divorce counseling and counseling with parents
are topics included in these courses. Students are encouraged
to integrate the didactic material presented in classes with
their applied practice. The theoretical orientations of the
faculty are eclectic, including social learning, cognitive-behavioral,
developmental, systems, and psychodynamic. Information regarding
this program’s practica is available on this website.
Scientific Focus:
The faculty of the counseling psychology program believes
that it is important for counseling psychologists not only
to be good consumers of research reports, but also to become
familiar and proficient with the research process. This
includes identification and definition of a problem of interest,
becoming familiar with the relevant literature, operationalizing
and measuring constructs, designing a study, collecting
and analyzing data, and reporting the results. Students
begin their involvement in the research process upon entry
into the program and continue until completion of the dissertation.
Early research involvement offten consists of students
assisting faculty and advanced students in ongoing research
programs. In addition to a dissertation, a predissertation
research project is required of all students. This consists
of the student developing a research project and carrying
it through to completion culminating in a written report
and presentation to fellow students and faculty. The project
should be primarily the responsibility of the student, working
in conjunction with his or her advisor or another faculty
member, and may serve as a pilot study of the dissertation.
It is hoped that such projects result in presentations at
professional conferences and/or publications.
To prepare the student to become a researcher and provide
sufficient background to enable him or her to conduct research,
a series of courses in research methodology is required. These
include research methods, the independent research requirement,
counseling research, evaluation research, and courses in statistics.
Additional courses in research are available on an elective
basis through the Department of Educational Psychology and
the Psychology Department, including multivariate procedures,
factor analysis, advanced test construction, and qualitative
research methodologies.
Program Educational Philosophy and Training Model:
The Counseling Psychology training program at the University
of Oklahoma has responsibilities to seek to address needs
at the individual, family, group, and cultural levels as well
as addressing local, national, and associational needs. A
developmental scientific professional model guides the training
program in its efforts to address these needs. Necessarily,
program goals across these foci cannot be considered orthogonal,
but will overlap across psychological, interpersonal, and
societal realms.
As one of only two state assisted doctoral granting universities
and the only professional psychology program at the University
of Oklahoma, we have a responsibility for providing quality
education and training for Counseling Psychologists who will
assume leadership roles and strive to serve particular needs
of the citizens of Oklahoma. As a nationally recognized training
program drawing students from across the country, we must
also strive to provide training that will generalize to other
geographical regions as well as to ethnic and cultural groups
that may have limited representation locally.
Our program has a developmental focus across a number of
domains. We recognize the developmental progress of students
in our training program, and we strive to design a sequential
course of studies and experiences that build upon their prior
learning. Our faculty understands that the professional and
personal development of our students can be enhanced or frustrated
by the environment we provide. We recognize that the clients
(individuals, families, couples, groups, organizations) and
students with whom our students work are also affected by
development processes and strive to encourage an understanding
of, and sensitivity to, how these can affect them.
Our program has a scientific focus across a number of domains.
We recognize that the scientific method provides a mechanism
by which our students can limit personal bias, develop testable
hypotheses, guide intervention plans, and evaluate the outcomes
of their work. Thus, our students need to learn to understand,
evaluate, and use research findings. They must learn to think
critically, using techniques and knowledge based on empirically
validated or supported research and take care in generalizing
these results to their clients in light of personal and contextual
factors. They must learn to use scientific thinking to clarify
their approach to problem solving whether it is working with
individual clients, societal issues, or targets in between.
As scientists, our students must also contribute to the scientific
knowledge of the field by conducting original research.
Our program has a professional focus across a number of domains.
We recognize that Counseling Psychology is a specialty within
the broader field of professional psychology. As such, our
students will primarily function as practicing psychologists
in a number of settings. Thus, the application of knowledge
in assisting people to deal with the person-environmental
context is of critical importance. Knowledge of and sensitivity
to issues of diversity are necessary in assisting individuals,
families, groups, and society in preventing and resolving
problems as well as augmenting potential. Practice should
be based on empirically tested theory with a commitment to
human welfare and well-being, and the value of the individual.
It should be guided by the fundamental ethical value of improving
the quality of life of the individual.
These values and principles directly translate into the structure
and sequence of our training program. Fundamental to our operationalization
of a developmental scientific professional model is the belief
that science and practice cannot be adequately integrated
if they are separated in the training program and taught by
different faculty. Thus, all of our core faculty function
as scientists who conduct original work inspired by clinically
relevant issues. In addition, our core faculty also engage
in practice related activities (e.g. consultation, evaluation
training, supervision, assessment, limited counseling and
psychotherapy) and strive to demonstrate an integration of
science and practice for the students. Most of the practica
experiences of our students are directly supervised by our
faculty in our training clinic. Thus, we assume primary responsibility
for integrating science and practice across the curriculum
articulated by a developmentally appropriate sequence of courses
and experiences.
Program Goals:
The program principles, values, and training model lead directly
to program goals. The goals reflect how the program intends
to integrate science and practice in counseling psychology
training. These goals reflect broad areas of development,
science, professional, and societal issues that are considered
important by the program in training counseling psychologists.
In subsequent sections we will detail how the goals are operationalized
into competency objectives.
1. The first goal focuses on the importance
of development within the program. Students progress in a
manner consistent with models of professional development.
It is important for the program to be organized in a sequential
manner across courses and practica to enhance student development.
This sequence of courses and practica should gradually increase
in depth and complexity of presentation and analysis as issues
of science, practice, and their integration are addressed.
To encourage this integration, it is necessary for science
and practice to be focused upon from the beginning of the
course of study through the completion of the degree. This
focus must, necessarily, promote an understanding of the manner
in which science and practice are linked, inform each other,
and form the basis for ethical and effective research and
practice.
2. The second goal focuses on the importance
of science within the program. Of course, as suggested by
our principles, values, and training model, it is somewhat
artificial to separate science from practice. However, certain
courses and experiences more directly examine scientific
issues than others. To reach this goal, students are exposed
to science and scientific method in a continuous manner
across courses, practica, and related research experiences.
The scientific basis for various domains of practice for
counseling psychologists is addressed in courses and is
a consistent focus of practica experience, especially those
conducted in the program’s
Counseling Psychology Clinic. Thus, science is not relegated
to certain courses and the dissertation, but plays a crucial
role in practice related courses, practica, and a focus
on general professional development. The focus on science
goes beyond reading the empirical literature and designing
a study, but also includes an understanding of the scientific
method and how it can be applied to diverse professional
activities. Consistent with our developmental focus, the
level of understanding and proficiency expected of students
is graduated over time as they progress through the program.
3. The third goal focuses on the importance
of professional practice within the program. As with our focus
on science, practice issues cannot be separated from scientific
knowledge and method, but must be integrated across experiences.
Students are exposed to professional practice information
and experiences in a continuous manner across courses, practica,
and related experiences. Work with clients begins early in
the program and continues through completion of the predoctoral
internship. The intensive focus on training in professional
domains is, of course, informed by reference to the theoretical
and empirical literatures as well as learning to utilize the
scientific method across professional activities. Similar
to the science goal, we expect progressively greater understanding
and proficiency of students as they move through the program.
4. The fourth goal focuses on the importance
of addressing societal issues in the program. The Counseling
Psychology Program at the University of Oklahoma recognizes
its responsibility to seek to address needs at the local,
national, and associational level as well as the individual,
family, group, and cultural levels. Thus, issues are addressed
across the curriculum and training experiences that serve
to highlight the responsibility of the profession to meet
societal needs. This focus includes surrounding the local
area, state, and, in the more broad sense, the nation and
world. Students become familiar with issues that affect the
individual in interaction with others at the interpersonal
and the societal levels. Relationships, primarily family as
well as social and work, are examined as they impact individuals,
groups, and society as a whole. In addition, the role of individual
differences including gender, ethnic, and cultural influences
are related to our scientific knowledge and practice as they
affect assessing and meeting the needs of various client populations.
The faculty is continuously in the process of altering and
refining the doctoral program. Changes in the health field,
accreditation requirements, and changes in science all effect
what we see as the optimal sequence of courses, practica,
research, and other training experiences. Thus, it is important
for students to keep in close contact with advisors so that
they keep on schedule and get the most from their academic
program.
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