Core Competencies in Clinical Neuropsychology as a Training Model in Europe

Mary H Kosmidis; Sandra Lettner; Laura Hokkanen; Fernando Barbosa; Bengt A Persson; Gus Baker; Erich Kasten; Amélie Ponchel; Sara Mondini; Nataliya Varako; Tomas Nikolai; María K Jónsdóttir; Aiste Pranckeviciene; Erik Hessen; Marios Constantinou

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.849151

Core Competencies in Clinical Neuropsychology as a Training Model in Europe

Front Psychol. 2022 Mar 31:13:849151. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.849151. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Mary H Kosmidis¹, Sandra Lettner², Laura Hokkanen³, Fernando Barbosa⁴, Bengt A Persson⁵, Gus Baker⁶, Erich Kasten⁷, Amélie Ponchel⁸, Sara Mondini⁹, Nataliya Varako^{10

11

12}, Tomas Nikolai¹³, María K Jónsdóttir¹⁴, Aiste Pranckeviciene¹⁵, Erik Hessen¹⁶, Marios Constantinou¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
² Association for Neuropsychology Austria, Bad Häring, Austria.
³ Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden.
⁶ Clinical Neuropsychology - Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
⁷ Department of Psychology, MSH University of Applied Sciences and Medical University, Hamburg, Germany.
⁸ French Federation of Psychologists and Psychology (FFPP), French Organization of Psychologists Specialized in Neuropsychology OFPN, GHU Paris Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Paris, France.
⁹ Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
¹⁰ Psychological Methodology Department, Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
¹¹ Research Center of Neurology, Moscow, Russia.
¹² Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, Moscow, Russia.
¹³ Department of Neurology, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czechia.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Reykjavik University, Reykjavík, Iceland.
¹⁵ Department of Health Psychology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania.
¹⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁷ Department of Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Abstract

The multitude of training models and curricula for the specialty of clinical neuropsychology around the world has led to organized activities to develop a framework of core competencies to ensure sufficient expertise among entry-level professionals in the field. The Standing Committee on Clinical Neuropsychology of the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations is currently working toward developing a specialty certification in clinical neuropsychology to establish a cross-national standard against which to measure levels of equivalency and uniformity in competence and service provision among professionals in the field. Through structured interviews with experts from 28 European countries, we explored potential areas of core competency. Specifically, questions pertained to the perceived importance of a series of foundational, functional, and other competencies, as well as current training standards and practices, and optimal standards. Our findings revealed considerable agreement (about three quarters and above) on academic and clinical training, despite varied actual training requirements currently, with fewer respondents relegating importance to training in teaching, supervision, and research (a little over half), and even fewer to skills related to management, administration, and advocacy (fewer than half). European expert clinical neuropsychologists were in agreement with previous studies (including those conducted in the United States, Australia, and other countries) regarding the importance of sound theoretical and clinical training but management, administrative, and advocacy skills were not central to their perspective of a competent specialist in clinical neuropsychology. Establishing a specialty certificate in clinical neuropsychology based on core competencies may enable mobility of clinical neuropsychologists across Europe, and, perhaps, provide an impetus for countries with limited criteria to reconsider their training requirements and harmonize their standards with others.

Keywords: clinical neuropsychology; entry-level professional competence; expertise; psychology specialty; training.