Future directions in pediatric and clinical child psychology.

Abstract

Examined future directions in pediatric and clinical child psychology, utilizing a "Delphi" survey of 80 experts. Experts were asked to identify future trends in research, training, and clinical service. Findings suggest considerable overlap for the two subspecialties. Differences were predominantly related to the characteristics of the settings within which the professionals practiced. Implications with regard to research, training, and clinical service are discussed.United States census data in 1970 indicated that 30% of the total population was composed of children under the age of 18.A detailed report released by the American Psychological Association (APA) nearly a decade later, however, suggested that less than 1% of all psychological service providers primarily served children (VandenBos et ah, 1979). Given this figure, it was not surprising that only about 10% of all American children and adolescents in need of mental health services actually received them at that time. The huge demand for child and adolescent services, in combination with the limited supply of existing service providers, led VandenBos et al. (1979) to estimate that an additional 5,000 fully trained, doctoral-level, clinical child psychologists would be needed to fill the service void by 1990.

Future directions in clinical child and adolescent psychology: a delphi survey

“…When comparing the current predictions with those in the Kaufman et al (1989) Delphi survey, several similar issues remain high priorities for the future while many new directions are emerging. Within the clinical practice domain, clinical child psychology participants continue to view prevention, reimbursement for services, services for specific problems such as trauma, and mental health care within family systems as important future directions.…”

“…In fact, Norcross and colleagues have repeated their Delphi survey of the future of psychotherapy every 10 years, which focuses on the future trends in the upcoming decade (Prochaska & Norcross, 1982;Norcross, Alford, & DeMichele, 1992;Norcross, Hedges, & Prochaska, 2002). Specific to the area of children's mental health, Kaufman et al (1989) conducted a Delphi survey to identify the most important directions in the fields of pediatric psychology and clinical child psychology over the next decade. The 53 clinical child psychology participants in the Kaufman et al study predicted training trends (specialty model, core curriculum, developmental processes), research trends (sexual abuse, childhood depression and suicide, developmental psychopathology), and clinical practice trends (reimbursement and cost effectiveness, psychological assessment, brief treatment) for the next decade, the 1990s.…”

“…Previously, individual experts have described their predictions for the future of the field in terms of its clinical services (Oswald & Singh, 1996), research (Pumariega & Glover, 1998), and training (Prinstein & Roberts, 2006;Roberts & Sobel, 1999). However, a more systematic study of expert opinion on the future of the field has not been conducted for almost 20 years (Kaufman, Holden, & Walker, 1989). Kaufman et al (1989) conducted a Delphi survey asking experts in the fields of pediatric psychology and clinical child psychology to predict the most important training, research, and clinical service directions for their respective fields in the next 10 years.…”

“…Since the Kaufman et al (1989) study, the field of clinical child and adolescent psychology has grown substantially and received recognition both within psychology and in the larger public arena. In the past decade alone, the field has developed into its own division within the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1999 and established an American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) specialty certification in 2001 (Abidin, 2007).…”

“…However, a more systematic study of expert opinion on the future of the field has not been conducted for almost 20 years (Kaufman, Holden, & Walker, 1989). Kaufman et al (1989) conducted a Delphi survey asking experts in the fields of pediatric psychology and clinical child psychology to predict the most important training, research, and clinical service directions for their respective fields in the next 10 years. Examples of highly ranked future directions in clinical child psychology were as follows: training emphasis on a specialty approach to training, basic curriculum requirements, and the processes of development; research focused on sexually abused children, depression and suicidality and the development of psychopathology; and clinical practice issues of service costs and reimbursement, psychological evaluations, and short-term therapies.…”