About

Our Accreditation

Our Clinical Science program has been continuously accredited by the American Psychological Association since March 2, 1948. In February 2014, we were accepted into the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science, denoting our program officially as a clinical science program. In January 2020 we became accredited by the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System. 

Questions related to the program’s accredited status by APA should be directed to:

 

Questions related to the program’s accredited status by PCSAS should be directed to:

 

Core Program Principles and Values

The central goal of the Michigan State University Clinical Science Area is to train the next generation of clinical scientists and generate and disseminate culturally responsive clinical science knowledge that will further the phenomenological and etiological understanding of mental health and inform prevention and treatment.

We Value….

• Intellectual curiosity
• Diverse voices and perspectives
• Critical thinking
• Collaboration

Core Guiding Principles:

• Cultural responsivity
• Lifespan development
• Dimensional assessment
• Multiple levels of analysis

Core Activities of the Faculty:

• Generate culturally responsive psychological clinical science research
• Broadly disseminate psychological clinical science knowledge
• Mentor and promote the development of the next generation of clinical scientists
• Engage in innovative teaching methods to instill intellectual curiosity in undergraduates across disciplines 
• Provide service to the department, university, and profession

Core Training Principles:

• Cultural responsivity
• Empirical approach
• High-quality research
• High-quality clinical application
• Integration of research/science and application

Core Activities of the Students:

• Developing expertise in culturally responsive clinical science research and application  
• Engage in generating clinical science research
• Engage in clinical science application with a diverse clientele
• Disseminate clinical science to professionals and public

Core Scientific Areas 

Consistent with our program principles and values, we have recruited highly productive faculty and students who exemplify these core principles and cluster within a limited, yet inter-related, set of scientific domains:

• Individual Differences across Social Contexts

  A core research focus in our Clinical Science program is on individual differences in biological, environmental, and personological factors that underlie and explain clinically relevant variation in human behavior. Researchers in this area apply quantitative and qualitative analyses of multi-method assessments (e.g., behavioral observation/coding systems, biological assays, neurophysiological instruments, questionnaires, standardized interviews) to understand the implications of individual differences in biological, psychosocial, and developmental processes, both on their own and in response to environmental and social contexts (e.g., genotype by social context interactions).

  This focus provides a bridge to the Social/Personality Area, which includes a number of international leaders in the area of basic personality science who regularly collaborate with faculty and students from the Clinical Science program. An individual differences framework also informs coursework and clinical training in the form of training emphases on diversity issues and quantitative methods. 

  For more information on research within the individual differences domain, please see the Clinical Science faculty web pages of Alex Burt, Brooke Ingersoll, and Jason Moser.

• Social and Biological Bases of Behavior

  Several Clinical Science faculty research the extent to which social, psychological, relational, environmental, genetic, and neurobiological factors contribute to the development, maintenance, and course of behavior. Faculty in this area use innovative study methods (e.g., observational, psychophysiology, behavioral genetic, neuroendocrine, neuroimaging, and cognitive neuroscience approaches) to disentangle biological, psychological, and environmental processes of behavior across the lifespan and the spectrum of pathology. A strong emphasis is placed on understanding how interactions between biological, psychosocial, environmental, and contextual risk factors predict dysfunction. 

  This research focus provides key bridges to several other areas within the MSU Psychology Department, including the Behavioral Neuroscience Area, the Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience Area, as well as the Ecological/Community Area. These areas include a number of international leaders who regularly collaborate with faculty and students from the Clinical Science program. The integrative framework also informs coursework and training related to research and clinical work, as we emphasize students’ understanding of the biopsychosocial model and the ways in which diverse risk factors interact and coalesce in the manifestation of behavior. 

  For more information on research within the social and biological bases of behavior domain, please see the Clinical Science faculty web pages of Anne Bogat, S. Alexandra Burt, Brooke Ingersoll,  Kelly Klump, Alytia Levendosky, Jason Moser, and Katharine Thakkar.

• Treatment, Development, and Implementation across Settings

  Several of our faculty members conduct research on interventions, including treatment process and outcome research, the development of novel interventions, as well as the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices across service settings.

  Our work in this area spans the translational science spectrum. The work spans clinical treatment and implementation science, yielding knowledge about treatment processes, efficacy and effectiveness, as well as the adoption, implementation, and sustainment of evidence-based practices in community settings.  Throughout this research, faculty members emphasize gathering community stakeholder perspectives to ensure that this work is meeting community needs, fitting with community services and settings, and is feasible for families and providers to utilize.  The ultimate goal of this work is to improve individual and public health, by increasing access to effective psychosocial interventions and reducing mental and behavioral health disparities.

  In this work, we emphasize students’ understanding of rigorous qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method designs and a range of treatment research designs (e.g., single case experimental designs, quasi-experimental designs, and randomized controlled trials).

  Faculty members have key collaborations with faculty across several of MSU's Psychology Department areas, the College of Education, and the College of Human Medicine. In addition, our faculty members have ongoing collaborations with researchers at a number of other universities. For more information on research within the treatment research and dissemination and implementation domains, please see the Clinical Science faculty web pages of Brooke Ingersoll, Amy Drahota, and Alytia Levendosky.