Education & Training Council

A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree program in health psychology prepares individuals to conduct independent basic and/or applied research examining the biological, psychological, behavioral, social, cultural, and environmental correlates of health and illness. The emphasis in PhD programs is on the development of strong research and data-analytic skills. Health psychology training in PhD programs lay the foundation for additional training and specialization in health psychology that can be obtained in postdoctoral fellowships.

There are two general types of PhD programs that train health psychologists, one that includes a focus on research training and one that includes a focus on both research and service delivery (i.e., providing clinical interventions).

1. A PhD from a program with an emphasis in health research, but which does NOT include training in service delivery (i.e., not a practice degree).

• These PhD training programs typically involve four to five years of training beyond an undergraduate degree, and are often tracks within social, experimental, or developmental psychology programs.
• These programs tend to prepare students for careers centered on health psychology research rather than patient care.
• Individuals who obtain this type of PhD in psychology are prepared for careers designing and conducting research in academic, medical, health, governmental, and corporate settings.

2. A PhD from a program with an emphasis in health and that includes training in both research and provision of clinical interventions.

• Both clinical and counseling PhD programs in psychology include training in health-relevant research AND practice. This training area is often called “clinical health psychology.” A clinical or counseling psychologist is trained to both conduct research and provide health-related clinical services.
• In addition to the research training, individuals in clinical or counseling psychology PhD programs are required to complete a one-year clinical internship to obtain a PhD. Clinical and counseling training programs typically involve five to six years of training beyond an undergraduate degree.
• In general, a clinical psychology PhD program includes training in the treatment of individuals with more severe mental health issues (e.g., psychosis, bipolar disorder), whereas a counseling psychology PhD program focuses training on the treatment of less severe psychological problems (e.g., stress, psychological adjustment to life transitions).
• Individuals who obtain a clinical or counseling PhD in psychology are prepared for careers designing and conducting research in academic, medical, health, governmental, and corporate settings, as well as for careers that include providing health services and supervising other clinicians delivering clinical care, or some combination of research and practice.
• Note that licensure to practice psychology occurs at the state level, and typically requires passing a licensure exam and some level of postdoctoral clinical practice that is supervised by a licensed psychologist.

In addition to the PhD degrees described above, the PsyD (Doctor of Psychology) degree offers another option for a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. The graduate training associated with a PsyD generally provides students with greater emphasis on clinical training and lesser focus on training to conduct research than does the training in a clinical or counseling psychology PhD program. Some PsyD programs will provide an emphasis in health psychology as part of the general clinical training.

Normally, PsyD programs involve four to five years of training beyond an undergraduate degree and also require completion of a one-year clinical internship. These programs primarily train individuals to work as clinicians in a wide variety of clinical and service-oriented settings. However, some PsyD graduates may function in administrative positions and some may enter academia, with teaching and research responsibilities similar to those of PhD graduates.

Individuals with PsyD degrees with a health psychology emphasis will often work in interdisciplinary settings such as medical hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, primary care settings, other medical specialty clinics or health care centers or even in government agencies. Those with private practices specializing in clinical health psychology may work closely with physicians and other health care professionals who refer patients to them when psychological treatment is necessary.

A master’s degree in health psychology can serve a number of different purposes, depending on the goals of the student and the program selected. Individuals elect to pursue a master’s degree in health psychology for several different reasons:

1. It can serve as a mechanism through which research experience or clinical experience can be enhanced in preparation for application to a PhD or a PsyD program (as well as for medical school and for doctoral programs in public health).
2. To obtain a degree from a program that will provide the appropriate training and degree that will meet state licensing requirements to provide clinical services as a psychological associate or with a limited license in psychology. (Note: States often do not grant licensure to practice psychology with a master’s degree).

A master’s degree program typically requires one to two years of training beyond an undergraduate degree.

Individuals with a master’s degree in health psychology can be employed in research settings, for example, serving as research study coordinators. Opportunities in public health and government-related activities might also be pursued.

It is important to note that individuals with a terminal master’s degree in health psychology would not be considered health psychologists.

At the doctoral level, training should be broadly-based. This means that you’ll want to take advantage of a variety of practicum opportunities focused on different areas of clinical or counseling psychology, including (but not limited to) health psychology. Take advantage of training opportunities in a variety of different health settings (e.g., inpatient, outpatient, community health) with a broad diversity of clients and presenting concerns. In addition, at each site, seek to acquire a broad a range of skills by immersing yourself in as many supervised activities as are available to you (e.g., assessment, intervention, report writing, consultation/liaison, community outreach etc.). Such a broad-based foundation will prepare you to more finely hone your skills on internship and perhaps during post doctoral training.

If your graduate program does not have a health psychology focus, you can still pursue training in health psychology. Here are some tips for maximizing your exposure to health psychology:

• Taking public health and nursing classes (e.g., epidemiology, health policy) are good options.
• Go to conferences (and watch for health psych preconferences at larger, more general conferences) and also seek out those summer courses that are offered from time to time on related topics by NIH and other organizations.
• Even if your clinical, counseling, or other psychology doctoral program does not offer formal health psychology training, it may be that some faculty are engaged in health psychology research and may welcome the involvement of interested students. Or, perhaps, in consultation with current faculty, you can develop a dissertation with a health emphasis or a health-related dimension.
• If you are enrolled in a clinical psychology doctoral program, you might consult your Director of Clinical Training about the possibility of health-relevant practica or other opportunities s/he may recommend. Having acquired as many health-relevant training experiences as possible at your current site, you will be better prepared to pursue pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral training in clinical health psychology.

Finally, many pre-doctoral internship sites offer opportunities for students to gain experience in a variety of clinical health psychology rotations with the amount of exposure to health-related experiences varying across training sites. The Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers offers a searchable directory that allows trainees to search specific criteria such as agency types (for example, medical centers) and training opportunities (for example, primary care, health psychology or HIV).

There are increasing numbers of post-doctoral training opportunities in health psychology:

• NIH supports a number of training grants that are appropriate for health psychologists, and these tend to provide opportunities for both pre and post-docs (http://grants.nih.gov/training/).
• The VA and military branches provide post-doctoral training (https://www.psychologytraining.va.gov/).
• Individualized post-docs with health psychology professors are also possible, and these are sometimes funded with the National Research Service Award (NRSA) mechanism within NIH.

The Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers also provides information about postdoctoral training sites with health psychology opportunities.