Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

Launching Professional Psychology and the psychology profession into the future.
The author has been Editor of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (PPRP) since 2018. She is stepping down and Susan Simonian has been named Incoming Editor-In-Chief. Moving forward, PPRP will continue to play a vital role as global, societal, and individual struggles and opportunities, both old and new, present themselves. With Dr. Simonian moving into the role of Editor, the author knows that the journal will be in good hands to help the profession address current and future challenges. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Advice in psychotherapy: Ethical, clinical, and cultural considerations.
The use of advice in psychotherapy is a controversial subject. Theorists commonly debate about its clinical utility, while disregarding ethical considerations and implications. The purpose of this article is to review the unique dilemma psychologists face when deciding whether to offer advice to clients. Advice will be examined from both a clinical and ethical lens to help psychologists make well-informed decisions about its utilization in psychotherapy. First, advice will be defined within the context of this article and current literature on advice in psychotherapy will be reviewed. Next, ethical and cultural considerations and recommendations will be discussed. An ethical decision-making model will be applied with a vignette, to provide psychologists guidance for making ethical, effective, culturally sensitive, and clinically appropriate decisions surrounding the use of advice. Finally, recommendations for clinical practice and future research will be provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Clarification to “Ethical considerations for demands for evidence in forensic examinations” by Frederick et al. (2024).
Reports a clarification to "Ethical considerations for demands for evidence in forensic examinations" by Richard I. Frederick, James W. Mikesell, Randy K. Otto, Kyle Brauer Boone, Robert A. Beattey Jr., Jerry J. Sweet, Daniel A. Krauss and Joe Scroppo (Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 2024[Jun], Vol 55[3], 179-196). The article “Ethical Considerations for Demands for Evidence in Forensic Examinations,” by Richard I. Frederick, James W. Mikesell, Randy K. Otto, Kyle Brauer Boone, Robert A. Beattey Jr., Jerry J. Sweet, Daniel A. Krauss, and Joe Scroppo (Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 2024, Vol. 55, No. 3, pp. 179–196, https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000581), presents multiple viewpoints regarding the potential conflict between due process rights and efforts to protect sensitive information associated with forensic assessment. The first section by Frederick, Mikesell, & Otto is followed by other viewpoints on this issue by Boone, Beattey, & Sweet; Krasuss; and Scroppo. The original abstract in the online publication of the manuscript has been replaced to clarify that the viewpoints following the article are not consistent with those expressed in the article by Frederick et al. Although all authors’ names are associated with the title of this Ethics in Motion section manuscript, Ethics in Motion is a collection of different viewpoints by authors with varied perspectives, and these authors have requested this be clearly noted to the readership. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2025-01076-001.) Ethics in Motion articles present complex issues with multiple, often divergent perspectives regarding important ethical issues in psychology. The current collection, Ethical Considerations for Demands for Evidence in Forensic Examinations, represents multiple viewpoints regarding the potential conflict between due process rights and efforts to protect sensitive information associated with forensic assessment. The first manuscript by Frederick et al. (2024) is followed by other viewpoints on this issue by Boone, Beattey, & Sweet; Krauss; and Scroppo. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Ethical considerations when conducting individual therapy with older adolescents exposed to high-conflict parenting.
High-conflict parenting (HCP) can exact a tremendous toll on the mental health and well-being of the youth involved. This article briefly reviews the literature on the impact of HCP on youth and treatment approaches established to optimize intervention outcomes. This is followed by a specific focus on common ethical and clinical issues that arise when delivering individual therapy to older adolescents (i.e., ages 15- to 17-years-old) who are experiencing HCP. Utilizing brief case vignette examples, important tensions (e.g., protecting an adolescent’s privacy while responding to their requests to advocate on their behalf) and possible resolutions are highlighted. The article concludes with several recommendations for working with older adolescents and their parents from an individual therapy framework. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
A pilot evaluation of collectivistic behaviors in distress reduction during group therapy.
Culturally informed therapy (CIT) is a 15-week therapy that was created for people with serious mental illness (SMI) and their families and subsequently adapted for transdiagnostic groups. Past research has found that CIT increased collectivistic tendencies and religious/spiritual practice and that these changes were associated with better mental health posttreatment. However, these findings have yet to be examined on a weekly basis. It is also unclear if group differences may exist in skill utilization across age and for clients with SMI. Thus, utilizing a growth curve model, we hypothesized that psychological distress would decline as more sessions were attended, in part due to increased collectivistic behaviors and spiritual practice. Further, we expected this effect to be moderated by age and treatment group. Our pilot study consisted of a sample of 61 individuals (469 observations) placed in treatment groups for transdiagnostic difficulties (n = 40) or SMI (n = 21). More sessions attended coincided with decreased distress. Younger individuals benefitted from engaging in more collectivistic behaviors, but average-aged (i.e., early 50s) and older adults (i.e., late 60s) did not. Spiritual practice was unrelated to psychological distress. Results suggest that engaging in collectivistic behaviors is one mechanism for improvement in CIT for both transdiagnostic and SMI groups. Future research should examine weekly spiritual practice such that adaptive and maladaptive strategies are distinguishable. Ultimately, younger clients benefit from therapy that encourages actionable behaviors in line with collectivistic values, though more research is needed to determine the factors underlying these age-related differences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Racial disparities in health literacy and numeracy: The role of sociodemographic and psychological risk factors.
As a practicing professional psychologist, you may have encountered the pressing need to understand and address racial disparities in health literacy and numeracy within your everyday clinical practice. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess these disparities and examine their association with sociodemographic and psychological risk factors in a mixed clinical outpatient sample. Data from 198 patients who completed the General Health Numeracy Test–Short Form, Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine–Revised, Adverse Childhood Experiences Checklist, Perceived Stress Scale, and Test of Premorbid Functioning were examined. Chi-square and analysis of variance tests compared participant characteristics by ethnoracial group status. Hierarchical regression models examined the incremental variance explained in health literacy and numeracy by ethnoracial group status, sociodemographic variables, and psychological risk factors. Analyses revealed significant racial disparities in health literacy and numeracy, with Black subjects scoring lower than White and Hispanic counterparts. Sociodemographic variables accounted for the effect of ethnoracial group status on health literacy and numeracy in White and Hispanic patient groups. Sociodemographic variables accounted for the effect of ethnoracial group status on only health numeracy in Black subjects. Psychological variables did not account for group differences in health literacy or numeracy. The study highlights the need for targeted interventions that address sociodemographic risk factors to reduce racial disparities in health literacy and numeracy. Addressing these factors may ultimately improve health outcomes for all individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Queering psychological assessment.
The process of psychological assessment as it has been practiced for over a century has contributed to, reinforced, and promulgated White supremacist, cisheteronormative, and otherwise oppressive systems and structures. While maintaining the scientific rigor of research-backed tests, measures, and methods, the field needs to shift in order to be explicitly antioppressive. Queering psychological assessment—applying the tenets of queer theory and therapy to the assessment process—centers client identity, lived experience, narrative, and language in the test interpretation, integration, and conceptualization processes, with an emphasis on collaboration and an acknowledgement that much of what has been identified as psychopathology represents natural human diversity mismatched with a society that is built for those from dominant groups. This article discusses how queering psychological assessment can accomplish a shift from gatekeeping (resources, accommodations, access) to collaboration, partnering with clients to figure out how to improve their lives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Cognitive and neuropsychological assessment of Afghan refugee children.
Forced displacement is accelerating globally, and people from Afghanistan already make up one of the largest refugee populations. The majority of this and other refugee groups are children. As Afghan families enter resettlement societies, they depend on culturally harmonious and coordinated care from the systems around them, including medical, educational, and developmental supports. Valid assessment practices can connect children and adolescents to the resources that are most helpful for their development. However, there are currently no guidelines or tests available for neuropsychological and cognitive assessment of Afghan refugee children, and common testing practices in many resettlement societies are unlikely to yield valid results. Without careful administration and interpretation, evaluators may underestimate the abilities of their Afghan clients while overlooking the impacts of resettlement stress, trauma, and cultural background on a child’s performance and behavior. As a result, they may inaccurately diagnose intellectual or neurodevelopmental disabilities in Afghan clients and fail to connect them to the services that would best support their development. This article summarizes findings from research on the assessment of refugee children, integrated with insights from Afghan community members, to create the first known guidance for the cognitive and neuropsychological assessment of Afghan refugee children and youth. These suggestions can equip evaluators to facilitate more valid and hospitable assessments with Afghan families, especially those in higher-income resettlement countries like the United States, Germany, Australia, and Canada. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
What psychologists need to know about substance use confidentiality.
Psychologists frequently encounter clients with substance use disorders (SUDs) even if they do not treat these disorders. Unfortunately, the laws governing the confidentiality of substance use information are complex, nuanced, and diverse. Violating these laws can result in substantial civil and criminal penalties, ethics violations, and, most importantly, irreparable harm to clients. This article discusses 42 Code of Federal Regulations Part 2, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and the Information Blocking Rule. It also describes a method for determining which law applies to SUD confidentiality and provides examples of applying this method to questions about SUD confidentiality. In addition, the article discusses how psychologists can improve their knowledge and understanding of these laws, so that psychologists can better protect both their clients and themselves. Last, the article addresses how the American Psychological Association and other health care organizations can help psychologists and other health care providers understand and cope with the complex and confusing laws governing the confidentiality of substance use information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Rethinking policies of avoiding suicidal patients.
Given the increase in suicidal behavior in recent years, psychologists should think through their policies about working with suicidal patients. Unfortunately, many psychologists have such an aversion to treating suicidal patients that they have developed policies of avoiding them, even to the extreme of refusing to treat any suicidal patients. However, avoidance policies may discourage such patients from being open about their suicidal thoughts and may increase the sense of self-stigma among some patients. Also, because suicidal thoughts occur so frequently among patients with the diagnoses commonly treated by psychologists, a question arises as to whether a psychologist could adequately treat those patients without showing an openness to explore suicidal thoughts. Because policies of being overly scrupulous in avoiding suicidal patients risk harming patients and can undercut the effectiveness of psychological services, they are poor risk management strategies that could paradoxically increase the risk of patient suicide. The authors conclude that the harms created by policies of avoiding to treat suicidal patients outweigh their benefits and that psychologists who deliver health care should become proficient in assessing and intervening with suicidal patients. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Deliberate practice for psychotherapy skills: Recommendations and implications based on the state of the science.
Interest in deliberate practice for psychotherapy skills has expanded considerably over the past several years with the publication of several how-to guides for therapists and empirical studies. A few recent publications have highlighted the potential limitations of deliberate practice for psychotherapy skills development, but these writings have primarily focused on empirical studies. Further, how-to guides often give minimal space to the potential limitations of deliberate practice for psychotherapy skills development and infrequently discuss the limitations of empirical studies. The current article seeks to synthesize conceptual and empirical writings on deliberate practice for psychotherapy skills in order to draw attention to areas that need further consideration. Specifically, we raise a series of unanswered questions warranting deeper reflection by the field. In discussing each question, we review the current literature on the topic. When relevant, we draw from the larger literature on deliberate practice and the expert performance approach to help make recommendations for research and practice. The article concludes by acknowledging the benefits of deliberate practice for psychotherapy (e.g., the production of novel training resources), while also noting the need for therapists to temper their expectations regarding results and utilize available resources to ensure a proper understanding of the model prior to implementation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
The use of paraprofessional service delivery in psychological helping settings: Comparative effectiveness and considerations.
Paraprofessional involvement in psychological helping settings may provide many benefits to individuals with mental health problems and help overcome obstacles to treatment. While the effectiveness of paraprofessionals has been assessed in older literatures, findings are mixed and limited due to the variation in treatment contexts and definitions of paraprofessionals. The current review expands on prior work by synthesizing the most recent evidence from nine meta-analyses and 13 individual studies for effects of using nonprofessionals in direct comparison to professionals across various treatment contexts (e.g., setting, clients, problems), as well as varied paraprofessional characteristics (e.g., limited training vs. trainees). The review indicated that professionals tended to perform slightly better than paraprofessionals in client psychological symptom reduction and delivering the treatment with fidelity, although the comparative effect was small. Paraprofessionals, but particularly trainees (i.e., graduate students), performed similarly to professionals in most studies. Limited training paraprofessionals (e.g., volunteers, undergraduate students) demonstrated the strongest effects in peer navigation and in treating children and adolescents. Our findings suggest paraprofessionals can achieve demonstrable success and should be utilized more in mental health settings to increase accessibility of services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Ascending, summiting, and descending: The academic career mountain of senior faculty members at postsecondary U.S. institutions.
At universities across the United States, faculty members work their way over many obstacles and through the ranks to get to the ambiguous yet coveted position of “senior faculty.” Many are unsure of what comes after they arrive at the pinnacle of success. Surveys and interviews of 15 participants shed light on the trajectories from novice to senior professor status, what happens after a professor achieves senior status, and how senior faculty anticipate transitioning into retirement. We found career trajectories consisted of similar difficulties; many professors had no clear career path after reaching senior faculty status, and many were unsure how to prepare professionally and psychologically for retirement. In short, after working and achieving at the senior level, the path to successfully transition into retirement is unknown. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice - Vol 55, Iss 6