Section 5-2 - Educational Requirements All applicants for licensure as a psychologist must possess a doctoral degree from a regionally accredited university.
(a) The educational requirement may be met by the completion of a doctoral degree program in psychology accredited by the APA Commission on Accreditation (CoA) degree program in psychology, or
(b) A program that meets all of the criteria listed below; - (i) The doctoral degree program must include:
- (A) A minimum of three academic years of full-time graduate study or the equivalent including at least forty semester hours, or sixty quarter hours, of graduate courses in curriculum areas described in subsection (2) of this section. Courses must be clearly identified by title and course content as being part of an integrated psychology program.
- (B) Two years in residency as described in subsection ( 3) of this section;
- (C) An organized, sequential and coordinated supervised professional training experience as described in Section 3.
- (ii) Curriculum requirements: The applicant must demonstrate three or more semester hours, or five or more quarter hours (or their equivalent) of core study in each of the following content areas:
- (A) History and systems of psychology;
- (B) Research design and methodology;
- (C) Statistics and psychometrics;
- (D) Biological bases of behavior for example: Physiological psychology, comparative psychology, neural bases of behavior, sensation and perception, and biological bases of development;
- (E) Cognitive-affective bases of behavior for example: Learning, thinking, motivation, emotion, and cognitive development;
- (F) Social bases of behavior for example: Social psychology, organizational theory, community psychology, and social development;
- (G) Individual differences for example: Personality theory; developmental psychology, child development, adult development and aging;
- (H) Professional standards and ethics;
- (I) Cultural and individual diversity;
- (J) Psychopathology or dysfunctional behaviors;
- (K) Theories and methods of assessment and diagnosis;
- (L) Effective psychological intervention and evaluation of the efficacy of interventions; and
- (M) Consultation and supervision.
- (iii) Academic Residency requirement:
- (A) The doctoral degree program must involve at least two continuous academic years of full-time residency at the institution that grants the degree or a minimum of 1500 hours of student-faculty contact involving face-to-face individual or group educational meetings.
- (B) Educational meetings:
- (I) Must include both faculty-student and student-student face-to-face interaction;
- (II) Be conducted by the psychology faculty of the institution at least seventy-five percent of the time;
- (III) Be fully documented by the institution and the applicant; and
- (IV) Relate substantially to the program components specified.