Regrets:
Rose-Marie Charest (QC), Philip Smith (PEI), Pierre Ritchie (CRHSPP)

Guest:
Henry Edwards

AIT Agreement on Internal Trade
PSWAIT Psychology Sectoral Workgroup on AIT
HRDC Human Resources Development Canada
LMCG Labour Mobility Coordinating Group
ACHHR Advisory Committee on Health Human Resources
CPA Canadian Psychological Association
CRHSPP Canadian Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology
CPAP Council of Provincial Associations of Psychology
CPA Canadian Psychological Association
ASPPB Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards
OPQ Ordre des Psychologues du Québec

The draft agenda was reviewed by L. Breault, who noted that the agenda allows for considerable flexibility, and was intended as a guide to discussions.

Where there was agreement, or a decision by the plenary, these are highlighted in bold print for clarity. These are not binding agreements, but reflect a consensus reached by regulators attending the meeting, for further discussion towards development of a Mutual Recognition Agreement.

H. Edwards reviewed the following three documents:

Regulatory Requirements for Registration in Psychology across Canada: A comparison of Acts, Regulations, By-Laws and Guidelines in view of the AIT (February 9, 2000 version) (hereafter referred to as Registration Requirements)

A Framework for the determination of competencies in relation to mobility for psychology under the AIT (February 9, 2000 version) (hereafter referred to as Framework Document)

English language translation of: Education and training of psychologists: The professional competency-based doctoral degree. Report of the committee on education and training of psychologists of the College of Psychologists of Quebec (November, 1999) (hereafter referred to as the OPQ Competency Document)

There were questions and discussion regarding the above.

There was considerable discussion about the eight competencies outlined in the OPQ Competency Document (See also, Framework Document).

AGREED

There was general agreement that the competencies numbered 1 to 5 are current requirements, directly or indirectly, in all jurisdictions. These competencies, and their proposed labels, can form the basis for further discussions for the purposes of AIT. Specifically, these competencies are labelled in the OPQ Competency Document and in the Framework Document as:

1. Interpersonal Relationships
2. Assessment (previously labelled Evaluation/Diagnosis)
3. Intervention
4. Research
5. Ethics and Standards

Numbers 6, 7, and 8 in the OPQ Competency Document (Consultation, Management, and Supervision) generated considerable discussion.

AGREED

There was unanimous agreement to subsume the key elements from Supervision, Management, and Consultation, under the first five competencies listed above.

The Competencies (numbers 1 to 5) outlined in the OPQ Competency document were next reviewed in detail at the plenary session. The sections on Definition, Knowledge, and Skills for each competency were reviewed, respectively, for the purpose of beginning to develop a consensus among regulators regarding these competencies. The minutes reflect the discussion and suggested changes to the Competencies in the order they were discussed, with agreements noted, and areas requiring further discussions highlighted. These discussions are provided below to provide an accurate record of the plenary session. The suggested changes, along with further refinements intended to reflect changes which were agreed to in the plenary sessions, have been incorporated by PSWAIT into a revised version of the OPQ Competency Document, attached to these minutes. The revised version is entitled: Discussion Document for the Purposes of the Agreement on Internal Trade: Core Competencies for Professional Psychology and their Evaluation for Mobility.

There was discussion of the definitions and knowledge requirements of the first five competencies (Interpersonal Relationships, Assessment, Intervention, Research, Ethics and Standards) in the OPQ Competency Document. Several changes and modifications to these items were suggested and agreed to. These changes are documented below.

AGREED

There was unanimous agreement that the Definitions and Knowledge requirements of the five competencies as described in detail in Appendix 7 of the OPQ Competency Document are acceptable with the changes noted below.

AGREED

There was consensus to modify definitions to make them more "generic" to apply to a broader range of areas of practice.

Thus, when listing items under the knowledge and skills definitions of competencies in Appendix 7, it was suggested that it would be helpful to indicate that the listed items are examples, and are not intended to be exhaustive.

AGREED

After each of the headings under knowledge add "such as".

For example, under interpersonal relationships "Knowledge" would read: "Knowledge of theories and empirical data on the therapeutic relationship, such as:"

6.1 Interpersonal Relationships

In # 1 under Knowledge, change the first instance of "therapeutic relationship" to "professional relationship".

In #1, change the second instance of "therapeutic relationship" to "therapeutic/professional relationship."

In # 2, change "transference and counter-transference" to "factors that may influence the professional relationship (e.g., boundary issues)."

6.2 Assessment

Noted that this item was previously referred to as "Evaluation"

Add the following components under Knowledge:

Assessment Methods
Knowledge of Populations Served
Human Development
Diagnosis

Under Definition, change #4 to read:

"The primary purpose of psychological assessment is to provide an understanding that informs a practical plan of action. It may result in a diagnostic classification or in the identification of strengths or competencies ."

Under Definition, change #3 to read:

The skills required for assessment can and should be applied to many situations other than initial evaluation, including, for example, treatment outcome, program evaluation, and issues occurring in a broad spectrum of non-clinical settings.

In the summary (bottom of page b), change #4 to "Formulation of hypotheses and making a diagnosis when appropriate".

Under Definition, remove the second paragraph starting with "Interventions include theory....."

Under Definition, change the third paragraph to read:

A broad comprehensive vision of the intervention competency should include explicitly theory as well as the following knowledge and skills:

Knowledge would read as follows:

The learning of an array of varied interventions with individuals and systems (e.g. couples, families, groups and organizations).

6.4 Research

Under Definition, strike the section: "With respect to area of research, the members of the committee agree to distinguish between.....as is the case in Psy.D. programs)."

The Research section was re-organized to more clearly delineate Definitions, Knowledge and Skills. Refer to the revised document (Appendix 1)

6.5 Ethics and Standards

Under Knowledge, add "knowledge of local jurisprudence".

Under Knowledge, change "ethical values" to "ethical principles".

AGREED

There was unanimous agreement that the Skills requirements of the five competencies as described in detail in Appendix 7 of the OPQ Competency Document are acceptable with the changes noted below.

7.1 Interpersonal relationships

No changes.

7.2 Assessment (Evaluation)

Replace "Interpretive Hypothesis" with "Formulation of Hypotheses" in Table 5 and in Appendix 7 under Assessment Skills.

Add "Report Writing" as a skill under Assessment.

Add "Formulation of an Action plan", as a skill under Assessment.

7.3 Intervention

Delete "2 client groups (exposure)" and replace with "ability to make appropriate referrals and to consult".

Delete "Psychopharmacology (exposure)", as it is subsumed under "ability to make appropriate referrals and to consult".

Delete "Human Coping Model" and replace with "To facilitate coping"

Move all of the Skills items under interventions, with above corrections, to the Knowledge Section for Interventions

Add skill items from the "Consultation Skills" in Appendix 7 to intervention skills, to replace above.

7.4 Research

Replace "Conduct of Applied Research" with "Application of the scientific method".

Delete "Basic Research Methods" as this is subsumed under Research Knowledge.

7.5 Ethics and Standards

Add "Resolution of ethical dilemmas".

Replace "Identifying Problems" with "Proactive identification of potential ethical dilemmas."

Key elements of Items 6, 7, and 8 (Consultation, Administration, and Supervision) have been deleted and subsumed under other sections.

Part III of the plenary session was facilitated by L. Bourgault.

The plenary session agreed on the following goal:

Establish a consensus of core competencies and methods of assessing/reconciling them, with a view to establishing a draft Mutual Recognition Agreement that is compliant with AIT.

It was noted that in Parts I and II of the meeting, there was consensus achieved on what constitutes the core competencies for psychologists, and the definitions, knowledge requirements, and skills requirements for the five competencies. The following additional needs or steps were identified as necessary towards achieving this goal.

Review and compare assessment methods of each jurisdiction.

Agree on the level required for each competency in terms of training, experience or other indices.

Draft the MRA with the correct technical language

The plenary session then proceeded to discuss the minimum level of training, experience, or other indices that would be required for each competency. Where there was unanimous agreement on an item, this is noted.

RESEARCH

AGREED

There was consensus that the Research competency, as described in Appendix 7, could be met the following way:

2 courses in methodology and/or statistics at the advanced undergraduate (3^rd or 4^th year level) or the graduate level;

completion of a research project at the graduate level.

It is noted that NF, NS, NWT, and PEI do not explicitly state these requirements, but likely meet them, and could consider changing their regulations to make the research component explicit.

SK may have considerable difficulty meeting the above research requirements.

ETHICS

AGREED

There was consensus that the Ethics competency would be met by the following:

One graduate course (in psychology) or equivalent knowledge in ethics;

one year of experience supervised and evaluated by a registered psychologist;

pass an oral examination with an ethics component.

ASSESSMENT

AGREED

There was consensus that the assessment competency would be met by the following:

Graduate courses, relevant to population served, such as coursess in psychopathology , personality , learning, or human development or other courses appropriate to other areas of practice;

graduate-level coursework in psychological assessment relevant to populations served;

evaluated supervised experience.

*Note: The supervised experience component for assessment would be met by the supervised experience requirement (to be specified) which must have an assessment component relevant to the population served.

ASSESSMENT: DIAGNOSIS *

*It is noted that diagnosis is not a core competency, but rather a component subsumed under Assessment.

The preceding notwithstanding, any jurisdiction which has diagnosis as a protected act, or which may otherwise restrict diagnosis to a qualified subset of registrants, reserves the right to evaluate the competency to carry out and communicate a diagnosis with respect to all applicants seeking registration under AIT.

AGREED

Competency to diagnose would be obtained by the following:

Graduate level courses with content primarily in psychodiagnostics such as:

Psychodiagnosis
Psychopathology
Personality
Assessment;

additional specialized coursework and supervised experience relevant to populations served;

evaluated supervised experience in psychodiagnostics by a registered psychological practitioner authorized to diagnose;

1500 hours or equivalent of supervised practice;

assessment of ability to formulate a diagnosis either through meeting all of the requirements of a doctoral degree in psychology (with the exception of the dissertation), or, through an examination of competency to diagnose. consisting of a scenario-based interview.

INTERVENTION

AGREED

There was agreement that the following would be required in order to meet the Intervention competency.

Graduate psychology courses and training relevant to the population served such as psychotherapy, counselling;

graduate level psychology practicum relevant to population served;

evaluated supervised experience by registered psychological practitioner relevant to population served;

REQUIRING FURTHER DISCUSSION

There was considerable discussion about the oral examination, and whether successful completion of an oral examination should be one of the requirements for the Intervention competency. It was not possible to reach a consensus on this item because: not all jurisdictions require an oral examination; oral examinations differ between jurisdictions, and may not always examine intervention competencies.

Although consensus was not achieved, the following was suggested by jurisidictions favouring the oral examination:

An oral examination may be required to check application of knowledge acquired. This should evaluate the candidate’s ability to select, implement and assess appropriate intervention approaches for specific psychological problems.

INTERPERSONAL

AGREED

There was agreement that the following would be required in order to meet the Interpersonal competency.

Evaluated supervised experience by a registered psychological practitioner;

References.

Oral examination

1. Issues requiring further discussion

The following issues still require further discussion as they relate to AIT:

EPPP
Degree level (Doctoral/Masters)
Grandparenting
Discipline
Definition of "good standing"
Accreditation
Oral examination

2. Next Steps

1) Produce report from this meeting and distribute to regulators, including all referenced documents.

2) Discuss/feedback on report from regulatory bodies.

3) Distribute final draft of report to all regulatory bodies, provincial associations, and other relevant stakeholders for feedback.

4) Anticipate changes to regulations, Acts, By-laws.

5) Draft Mutual Recognition Agreement (Breault/Yarrow)

3. Next Meetings:

The next regulators meeting will be November 4 - 5, 2000

AIT will also be scheduled for discussion at CPAP on July 3, 2000 (Ottawa), including discussion of the report of this meeting. Additional funding will be available for regulators to attend who are not CPAP delegates. Jurisdictions wishing to send an additional regulator representative to the CPAP meeting should discuss this in advance with L. Breault.