New Standards of Accreditation in Health Service Psychology: Rationale, Opportunities, and Challenges

The intent of this article is to inform the training community about the contextual and conceptual framework that guided development of the Standards of Accreditation (SoA) and to summarize the major changes in accreditation introduced by the SoA. First, the authors address the need for new accreditation standards in light of the evolving landscapes of psychology, higher education, and health care. They then describe the process by which the Commission on Accreditation (CoA) and its communities of interest worked together to develop the SoA and present the general guiding principles and the specific rationale for the most significant changes. Changes in six areas are described in depth, including labeling the profession, level-specific standards, addressing diversity, the discipline-specific knowledge base, defining appropriate competencies, and contingent accreditation. The authors conclude with a discussion of what they envision as the promise of the SoA, including thoughts about the responsibility of the profession (including the CoA and the training and professional communities) to promote and ensure quality training in health service psychology.