University College Dublin

The Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology is a 3-year research degree and professional training programme in clinical psychology. The course is fully accredited by the Psychological Society of Ireland.

The course runs over three calendar years and includes three interrelated elements:

•2,000 hours of research over 200-250 days
•500 hours academic coursework over 100-150 days
•3,000 hours of supervised clinical practice over 390 days

The central objective of the course is to train postgraduates to a level which will enable them to work safely, competently and ethically as a basic grade clinical psychologist and to provide a foundation for later specialization through continuing professional development. Postgraduates graduating from the course should be able to

•provide assessment and treatment services to a wide range of client groups including children and adults with psychological problems and disabilities

•use their academic knowledge to solve clinical problems and provide consultancy and teaching services to colleagues and clients

•use their research skills to answer questions, raised within the health services, which require an empirically based answer.

Within the Clinical Programme, the psychologist's role is conceptualized as that of a professional scientist-practitioner who works within a shared care model of multidisciplinary health service delivery. The psychologist as a professional is guided by codes of ethics and practice such as those laid down by the Psychological Society of Ireland.

As a scientist, the psychologist brings knowledge of the findings of the science of psychology and the methods used to investigate problems scientifically to bear on clinical practice and health service delivery.

As a practitioner, the psychologist is skilled in specific assessment and intervention methods and is sensitive to the way in which personal psychological strengths and vulnerabilities impinge upon skilled clinical practice.

The importance of contributing a uniquely psychological perspective to multidisciplinary team practice is a central part of the clinical psychologists role.

Academic coursework is covered in six six-week academic blocks each containing at least 36 half-day teaching sessions or approximately 100 hours coursework per block, except the final block which is reserved largely for writing the final draft of the major research project. Thus, overall there are 500 hours of coursework in the programme spanning 100-150 days. Academic courses are grouped into the following conceptual areas:

•Child and adolescent clinical psychology

•Adult clinical psychology (including the psychology of the older adult)

•The psychology of intellectual disabilities

•Neuropsychology

•Personal and professional development

Four 4,000 word essays (one each in the areas of child and adolescent clinical psychology, adult clinical psychology, the clinical psychology of older adults, and the clinical psychology of intellectual disabilities) to demonstrate competence in systematically reviewing literature and drawing conclusions to inform clinical practice.
Three 4,000 word case studies (one each in the areas of child and adolescent clinical psychology, adult clinical psychology, and the clinical psychology of intellectual disabilities) to demonstrate competence in applying theory and research to clinical practice.

Each psychologist in clinical training completes six 4.5 month placements of supervised clinical practice. All placements contain a minimum of 65 days (or 500 hours) yielding a total of 390 days (or 3,000 hours). These placements provide training and clinical experience in the following areas:

•Child and adolescent clinical psychology
•Adult clinical psychology
•The clinical psychology of intellectual disabilities
•The clinical psychology of older adulthood
•Specialist areas.