Continuing Education Initiative

The information on this page is part of an initiative to report Continuing Education programs that fail to fully meet APA’s Standards and Criteria for Approval of Sponsors of Continuing Education for Psychologists (https://www.apa.org/ed/sponsor/resources/approval-standards.pdf), despite the sponsors of these CE programs having APA approval. The link allows for the easy reporting of “scientifically egregious” CE programs directly to CESA so that they may re-evaluate the organization’s standing as an APA-Approved Sponsor. More background about this initiative and guidelines on how to submit a complaint by using the CE Program Claim Evaluation Form (included as the last page in the Background and Claim Form below). 

Background

In mid-September 2017, select members of Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12, APA; SCP) and the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (Section 3, Division 12 APA; SSCP) held a collaborative Summit on Issues in Professional Psychology Continuing Education at Emory University. As part of that meeting, attendees considered our organizations’ roles in collaboratively facilitating the science-base of APA Continuing Education (CE) programs. Accordingly, they generated several strategies and recommendations for policy and procedures to address CE programs that fail to fully meet APA’s Standards and Criteria for Approval of Sponsors of Continuing Education for Psychologists (https://www.apa.org/ed/sponsor/resources/approval-standards.pdf), despite the sponsor of the CE programs having APA approval. 

One strategy is to increase the reporting of specific CE programs that fail to meet APA’s standards and criteria. To facilitate this process, SSCP/SCP Summit members developed an approach to rapidly report scientifically egregious CE offerings from APA-approved sponsors. By 'egregious,' we mean offerings that are grounded in grossly inadequate scientific evidence (see below for specific criteria).

How you can help:

(1)   Notify the SSCP Continuing Education Task Force by sending a link, a photo, or a PDF of the suspect CE offering to sscp.ce.taskforce@gmail.com. The SSCP CE Task Force will review the CE offering, determine if a complaint should be made, and file a complaint directly to the APA Office of CE Sponsor Approval.

(2)   File a complaint yourself to the APA CE Sponsor Approval (CESA) office (http://www.apa.org/ed/sponsor/resources/complaint-form.aspx) using the procedures outlined in the Background and Claim Form (it is very straightforward!)

Thank you for choosing to support this initiative!