GERONTOLOGICAL TRAINING IN APA ACCREDITED CLINICAL AND COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAMS

Clinical and counseling psychology doctoral programs accredited by the American Psychological Association were surveyed to assess their cove rage of gerontological issues. Responses from 103 programs (50.2% retu rn rate) revealed that all departments offered some curricular coverag e of these issues and that 64% of the departments offered specific cou rsework in aging or adult development. Other opportunities for student s included work at gerontology centers, certificate programs, and depa rtmental faculty with specializations in gerontology. On the other han d aging specializations, postdoctoral and re-specialization opportunit ies were extremely limited, and a relatively low number of students ha d obtained clinical or research experience with this population. The r esponding programs reported a perceived low level of need to incorpora te additional training in gerontological issues and also reported a lo w level of current incorporation of such training. Although progress h as been made in attending to gerontological issues, further focus need s to be placed on this issue to meet the growing needs of art aging po pulation.