Building Treatments on Sound Science

Two sessions in the Clinical Science Forum at the 24th APS Annual Convention explored critical issues facing clinical psychologists. In the first session, psychological scientists shared the benefits and challenges of implementing evidence-based treatments in large organizations — in this case, the military. The second session focused on education and the efforts training programs are making to equip future clinicians with the skills they need to evaluate and implement evidence-based interventions. Both programs demonstrated that clinical psychological science is helping medicine move in a promising direction toward treatments that are effective and empirically sound.

Lea R. Dougherty, Kellie Crowe, Ellen Healy, Bradley E. Karlin, Shirley M. Glynn, Robyn Walser, and Antonette M. Zeiss share strategies for implementing evidence-based treatments in health care systems.

Shirley M. Glynn explains how integrative behavioral couples therapy has shaped treatment programs for the better at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Los Angeles.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs incorporated empirically supported treatments, such as cognitive behavior therapy, and Bradley E. Karlin explains the challenges and opportunities the agency faced.

Kimberly Hoagwood, Varda Shoham, Lisa S. Onken, Bruce F. Chorpita, Howard Berenbaum, Timothy J. Strauman, and Robert W. Levenson discuss multi-faceted approaches for enhancing training programs in clinical psychology.

“We trained students for a world that no longer exists,” says Varda Shoham. She says the next generation of clinical scientists must do more to evaluate and disseminate innovative treatments.

APS Past President Robert W. Levenson describes a practicum in which clinical psychology students both design interventions and implement them in a clinic setting.