HISTORY & RELATIONSHIPS TO OTHER ENTITIES
PCSAS was created as an independent entity by the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science (APCS). Founded in 1995, APCS now has over 60 member programs, all of which are either doctoral training programs in clinical and health psychology or psychology internship training programs. APCS members share a primary commitment to the education and training of psychological clinical scientists.
APCS's decision to launch a new accreditation system arose from its members' growing awareness that the constraints inherent in the American Psychological Association's (APA's) accreditation system, as administered by the Commission on Accreditation (CoA), prevent it from serving as a strong advocate for specialized training in clinical science. The CoA system must provide even-handed coverage to a heterogeneous array of several hundred doctoral training programs, internships, and post-doctoral programs. Across all these programs, there is remarkable diversity in conceptual models, training methods and goals, and content specialties. To accommodate such diversity within a single accreditation system, while not giving preferential treatment to any one approach, CoA has adopted a highly generic, "one-size-fits-all" set of accreditation criteria and procedures. These tend to be overly broad and general, hence, not very discriminating. Because CoA-accredited programs do not agree on the ideal outcomes of their training, CoA necessarily focuses its evaluations on a checklist of "input" variables (e.g. , required courses and supervised practicum hours), rather than on results, or "output" variables. In short, CoA's generic system simply cannot grant to high-quality science-centered doctoral programs the kind of special attention, recognition, and status that APCS members believe their programs merit, and that they regard as vital to ensuring the future of clinical psychology.
In contrast, because APCS is a relatively homogeneous organization comprising member programs committed to advancing psychological clinical science, it was possible for APCS members to reach consensus on the importance of creating PCSAS—i.e., an accreditation system created specifically to promote high-quality science-centered doctoral education and training. The system is intended not only to foster superior doctoral-level training of clinical scientists, but also to enhance the knowledge base for disseminating and delivering the safest, most cost-effective mental and behavioral health services to the public.
The idea of creating an accreditation system targeted on doctoral education and training in psychological clinical science had been discussed for many years—at least since 1992, when the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Association for Psychological Science (APS), and the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology (COGDOP) sponsored a special summit meeting on accreditation in Chicago. The birth of PCSAS can be traced to a special meeting on accreditation organized by the APCS executive committee, held in Tucson, AZ, in January 2006. This meeting culminated in the decision to pursue development of a new accreditation system—a decision subsequently ratified by APCS members at their annual meeting in May 2006. At the next annual meeting, in May 2007, a formal draft proposal for such a system was presented to members, and in October 2007, the APCS membership voted overwhelmingly in favor of launching the proposed system. The Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System, Inc. was incorporated officially in Delaware on December 27, 2007. The PCSAS Board of Directors held its first meeting, by phone, in February 2008, and met again, in person, in May 2008, at which time the Board elected officers, selected an Executive Director, and established the agenda for the coming year.
Although PCSAS was founded by APCS, the Association for Psychological Science (APS) has played an important supportive role in its creation and development. APS is an organization devoted to advancing psychological science, so its values and interests are congruent with those of PCSAS. During the 1990s, APS provided critical support for the establishment of APCS, and was a key player in exploring alternatives to the existing accreditation system. More recently, APS was a staunch supporter of APCS efforts to create PCSAS. APS will exert no direct control over PCSAS, but it has been, and will continue to be, a source of resources and support.
PCSAS's relationship to APA and CoA is complex. Over the years, APA has done a great deal to promote psychology as a science. It does so through the activities of its science directorate, through its publication of leading scientific journals in the field, and through some of its divisions' activities. Thus, to the extent that APA and CoA share a commitment to science-centered education, the new specialized PCSAS accreditation system should be welcomed by APA. The creation of PCSAS was not undertaken for the sake of challenging APA or CoA; it is a positive effort to award recognition, support, and stature to doctoral programs devoted to training in psychological clinical science. Because CoA accreditation and PCSAS accreditation are designed to serve different purposes, the relationship between these two systems could be construed as complementary. No doctoral programs should feel compelled to choose between CoA and PCSAS accreditation; instead, they should be free to seek both types of accreditation in parallel, if they wish, without concerns about prejudicing their standing with either. In fact, most programs seeking PCSAS accreditation are likely to continue their CoA accreditation and be dually accredited for the foreseeable future.
PCSAS not only is pursuing official recognition as a legitimate accrediting body from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), but also is working to establish collaborative relationships with—and recognition by—other relevant entities, including the Veterans Affairs; other federal institutions (e.g. , Congress, NIMH, NIDA, NIAAA, OBSSR, SAMSHA, FIPSE); state licensing boards; mental health professionals and groups; and consumers. PCSAS also is contacting foundations and other potential benefactors in an effort to build and maintain a solid financial foundation that will help ensure the organization's long-term stability and viability.