Pikes Peak model for training in professional geropsychology.

Abstract

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.

Ethical Issues in Geropsychology: Clinical and Forensic Perspectives

“…Nevertheless, numerous resources exist to support evidence-based practices, help geropsychologists achieve and maintain competence in their clinical and forensic work with older adults, and promote ethical knowledge and decision making in geropsychology. Such resources include (a) position statements by professional organizations, particularly the APA (e.g., ABA & APA, 2005, 2008; APA, 2014); (b) scholarly works, such as ethics books, book chapters, and journal articles (e.g., Bush, 2009Bush, , 2012Bush, Allen, & Molinari, in press;Hays & Jennings, 2015;Karel, 2011); (c) the APA Ethics Code; (d) collegial consultation, broadly defined to include ethics committees, interdisciplinary colleagues, and other geropsychologists working with older adult patients; (e) the Fairhill guidelines on ethics of the care of people with Alzheimer's disease (Post & Whitehouse, 1995); (f) advance directives; and (g) the Pikes Peak documents (Karel et al, 2010;Knight et al, 2009).…”

“…Additionally, determining the appropriate level of involvement of trainees in capacity assessments or therapeutic interventions can be challenging in specific cases, given their varying levels of experience and knowledge. Within our training program, the use of a specified model of training which is linked to evaluation, such as the Pikes Peak training model (Knight, Karel, Hinrichsen, Qualls, & Duffy, 2009;Wharton, Shah, Scogin, & Allen, 2013) and the Pikes Peak Geropsychology Knowledge and Skill Assessment Tool (Karel et al, 2010), helps guide such training decisions with graduate students. The Pikes Peak training model and assessment tool covers the foundational and functional competencies expected of geropsychologists and provides a rating scale for clinician to rate their own competencies and those of trainees, helping to identify areas of strength and weakness.…”

“…For example, compared to some patient populations, assessment and treatment of older adults tends to involve more (a) cognitive and sensory deficits, (b) consultation with interdisciplinary teams, (c) involvement of family members and formal caregivers, (d) medical problems and medications, (e) care across a wide continuum of inpatient and outpatient settings, and (f) cohort differences (Knight, Karel, Hinrichsen, Qualls, & Duffy, 2009). These issues, alone and in combination, require an emphasis on some ethical issues more than others.…”

Impact of Client Death on Clinical Geropsychologists: A Qualitative Analysis

“…One area of expertise outlined in geropsychology competencies is psychologists' involvement in end-of-life (EOL) care (Knight, Karel, Hinrichsen, Qualls, & Duffy, 2009;Karel, Knight, Duffy, Hinrichsen, & Zeiss, 2010).…”

Training competent psychologists in the field of child maltreatment

“…Recently, scholars in the fields of health care (e.g., medicine, psychology) and public health (e.g., injury and violence prevention) have developed competencies to guide administration of training programs in their disciplines to improve the quality of services provided to the public (Kaslow et al, 2004;Knight, Karel, Hinrichsen, Qualls, & Duffy, 2009;Office of Interprofessional Education, 2005;Songer et al, 2009). Competencies provide a standard for programs to ensure that trainees are able to apply relevant skills and knowledge in practice settings (Kaslow, Celano, & Stanton, 2005).…”